


Committing Mutiny

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Abuse, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Ancestors, Blood, Canon Injuries, Death, F/F, Flogging, Multi, Physical Abuse, Pirates, Scourge Sisters, Sexual Content, Slavery mention, Torture, ancestors raise beta trolls, enslavement, follows ancestor era with twists, long fic, mulit chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-02-05 06:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 88,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1809223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the death of Redglare, Mindfang makes a discovery of a young grub named Terezi. Instead of leaving the troll to die she takes her back to her ship and raises her along with Vriska. Even though there are good times and bad times on the ship, the young teal blood wonders what really happened to her own ancestor. Things get rough over the sweeps as Terezi starts questioning everything and soon makes a dangerous decision to commit mutiny once discovering the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lets be Pirates

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I hope to get positive feedback from everyone here. Please tell me what you think and suggestions and opinions are welcomed!
> 
> MUSIC TO GO WITH THE STORY:[Click here!](http://youtu.be/EgOzGxcwSDo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska try to be like pirates. Nothing can go wrong!

It is an average night for Mindfang. Drinking in the Captain’s cabin while watching her young descendant, who is only three and a half sweeps old, running around with a toy sword in hand. Mindfang does not hold back a smile when Vriska starts swinging her toy at Terezi, who was sitting on the floor with her scalemate. She had to admit, her decedent was already a wild one. Mindfang admires her free spirited and outgoing attitude. It truly reminds her of herself when she was young. 

Mindfang could see the annoyance on Terezi’s face as she tries to get off the floor and get away from the wannabe pirate. “Stop it!” Terezi starts to complain as she gets to her feet and Vriska continues to swing the toy too close for Terezi’s comfort. Mindfang mentally debates on if she should stop this nonsense before it gets out of control. However, she likes for the young ones to learn the hard way on some things and at this rate Terezi looks ready to punch Vriska. Yet, Vriska laughs and starts jumping side to side in an attempt to ‘dodge’ Terezi. The young Cobalt blood does not fear her friend, but Terezi reaches for the sword and actually gets a hold of it. Vriska is taken by surprise and both get into a tug a war fight over the toy. However, with Vriska being a bit taller and stronger than Terezi already, one hard tug sends the Pyrope face first into the ground. Seconds later, Mindfang could see teal tears streaming down Terezi’s face and soon followed was loud crying. “Vriska, don't play like that with Terezi. You should know better by now.” 

Mindfang states lazily while putting down her rum and she slowly makes her way to the crying Pyrope. “I didn’t do anything!” Vriska starts to complain but soon shuts up right after getting a sharp look from her ancestor. After all, Vriska knows when to stop misbehaving when it comes to Mindfang. After multiple spankings and time outs, Vriska learned when to not fight back. Mindfang could only fear how Vriska would act when she is older, but she is sure that Vriska would grow out of her current behavior.

“Come here, Terezi.” Mindfang calls. Yet, the Pyrope stayed put on the floor, crying. Mindfang groans and picks the teal blood off the floor. She continues to cry and Vriska frowns as her friend gets attention. “Ok, it is already getting late. Both of you need to go to sleep before you two cause more trouble.” Mindfang picks up the white scalemate off the floor and hands it to Terezi. With her toy in hand, Terezi starts to calm down and soon the tears start to dry once she gets a hold of her stuff dragon. Vriska still stands close to her pirate ancestor with her sword in hand. “No. I want to stay up forever!” Vriska starts swing her toy sword again but this time it is in no ones way. “Go to your Respiteblock. Now.You should have went to bed hours ago.” Vriska makes a face but starts to walk to the door. Mindfang could hear the girl mumble under her breath but does not say anything about it. By then Mindfang is already putting Terezi down so the teal blood could sleep as well. It did not help that it is already late and the wigglers should have been to asleep a long time ago. “You too. Go to your block.”

Terezi clings to the scalemate and too, begins to walk out the door. She wipes away her tears with her shirt as she tip toes to up reach the doorknob. When she finally leaves Mindfang sits back on her chair and enjoys the absence of the two trolls. “These fucking wigglers are going to make me want to jump ship.” She grabs a bottle of rum and chugs as much as she could handle.

(MUTINY)

“Nice job, Terezi! You got me in trouble.” Terezi hears the words as she walks into the shared block. “No. It was your fault!” Vriska throws herself on top of her toy box which was in the shape of a treasure chest. “Not my fault this place is boring.You’re boring!” Terezi sits on a pile of dirty clothes that was a combination of the two trolls. “Maybe you are the boring one. Mindfang only got mad because you were being dumb.” Vriska grunts as she dramatically slides off the fake treasure chest. The young troll blue blood opens the toy box to put her toy in. “It’s not my fault you cry like a wiggler. You would be a bad pirate!” Terezi stares at her scalemate, not really interested in talking with Vriska. “I don't want to be one.” Vriska pulls out a cheap pirate hat from the box that reminds Terezi of Mindfang’s hat. 

Yet, she knows that it is one that Vriska got when they made a stop at the docks a few Perigees ago. “Being a pirate is the coolest thing you can be! You get all the stuff you want, all the trolls listen to you, and no troll can beat a pirate!” Terezi huffs. “If pirates are the coolest then why is this ship so boring?” Vriska laughs and jumps next to Terezi, almost landing on the small troll. “Booooooooring? This place is fun!”

“How?”

Soon, Vriska starts pushing herself close to Terezi, who tries to make distance between them. “We can have an adventure.” Terezi holds her stuff dragon above her head, as if the toy will take off in flight. Yet, it does not. “Like what?” Terezi questions. “You know that drink the Captain always have?” The Pyrope already does not like where this conversation is going but allows her friend to continue. “Yeah, why?” Vriska reaches out and grabs Terezi’s scalemate successfully. “Let’s take some! Then we can be real pirates.” Terezi whines when her toy is taken away from her. It is not the first time that Vriska held one of her toys hostage to get the teal blood to cooperate with her mischief. Which Terezi hates due to the fact that she has also gotten in a lot of trouble because of it. Reluctantly, Terezi gives a soft “ok”, and Vriska jumps off the pile of dirty clothes in excitement with Terezi’s toy in hand. “We will get in trouble though! Mindfang will be mad.” Vriska pulls Terezi up off the clothes even though she groans. She could tell that Terezi is already sleepy but knows that this little game of theirs would not be fun if there is only one player.

“No! We won’t. We will steal the pirate drink from the mess hall.” Vriska pushes Terezi to the door. “Let’s go!” Vriska tightly holds the toy in her right hand as she walks quietly through the hallways, and after going up some stairs, they found themselves outside. Luckily for the two foolish trolls Mindfang owns a special walkway to allow crew members to move about freely on the ship when it is daytime. The walkway prevents the harmful rays from hurting them and the two trolls jump for joy when no one is on deck. After all, most of the crew members are sleeping and the few that are awake would use the below deck walkways to get around the ship. 

However, not wanting to get caught, the two troublemakers decided to take a different approach. They run across the walkway to reach the other side of the ship. As they run Vriska can feel a gust of wind hit her face and the way the ship wobbles, makes her truly excited and reminds her why she wants to be a pirate. All while Terezi does her best not to puke her guts out due to the constant movement of the ship. Her illness has gotten better but every once in a while she would want to vomit because of it. Today is sadly one of those days where she feels sick, but the Pyrope would have to admit that this is only light nausea and nothing too bad.

“We’re almost there!” Their shoes made loud noise against the wooden floor as they eagerly make their way to the other side of the ship. Vriska makes a quick halt in front of the door, that led down to where the mass hall was located, that it causes Terezi to bump into her. The impact forces Vriska forward but does nothing more. She growls and turns around to see the Pyrope. Terezi gives an innocent smile and Vriska decides not to do anything about it accident. 

With a turn of the knob, they enter back inside the ship. They walk down the stairs, which leads them into a very large room which is used for the crew members to sleep. It was cramped down there and there is only a few Recuperacoons down there. Clearly not everyone could not sleep in one and Terezi assumes that they rotate in sleeping in them. To make up for the lack of Recuperacoons, there are hampics and piles that are scattered about the sleep quarter. Walking through there, they obviously gained attention because of the fact they are the youngest ones on the ship. However, the crew knows who they are and do not bother them out of fear of how might the Captain might react. The deck hands don't even eye contact and that’s when Vriska notices how the members were dressed very poorly. Many of them ragged clothes and were not as fit as some of the ‘higher ranked’ members. 

She takes note of a small door on the right side of the ship that has a small window that had bars on it. Vriska knows it is where the forced and uncooperative help is being held. In fact, she could see a few of them pushed up against the door. Well, that is what Mindfang told the both of them. In reality Vriska heard Mindfang calling them dirty lowblood slaves and she even remembers a few times to where Mindfang was whipping one of them. The sick and weak ones would be thrown overboard and some would look like skin and bones. None of them have ever said anything to her because of one incident with Terezi. 

All she remembers was that Terezi was eating grubloaf and a young slave asked for some. Being a young, innocent troll, Terezi gave the female troll a couple of bites. However, it just so happens that Mindfang was on deck that night and witnessed the outcome. Vriska remembers watching from a distance as their Captain walked up to the troll. Mindfang grabbed the food and threw it over the side of the ship. The scared face on the young troll made Vriska, to this night, feel bad for her. Then Mindfang’s colorful language spills out and soon a whip clips off the side of her belt. Vriska would wince every time a blow would land on the troll and soon Terezi was asking-no begging for Mindfang to stop. Yet, the Gamblignant showed no mercy and soon maroon blood started covering the deck along with tattered rags that once covered her. Eventually, the girl’s tears and blood started mixing and no one did anything but to watch the scene unfold. Yet, even though the maroon blood was in pain, she did not struggle as she knows that her punishment would be worse. So she cried and begged for mercy as she apologized profoundly. Soon, the young girl stopped cry and she layed on the deck, unmoving. It was then that Mindfang stopped. She shouted out orders to her crew and the next thing Vriska sees is the maroon blood was being thrown off the side of the ship, into the cold ocean.

Vriska could see Terezi crying in fear of what had occurred. Mindfang turned her head to Vriska’s direction and in fear, the descendent does not meet her glance and instead stares at the floor. Yet, Mindfang does not linger looking at her young blood and turns to Terezi. The poor girl was trying to hold back her tears as she worried that she would be next in line for punishment. Her hands clinged to the side of her pants, a habit of nervousness that she had developed. There had been plenty of times where Terezi would get in more trouble because of her crying. Yet, being young, Terezi was not fond of the constant violence she was exposed to but Mindfang would tell her that she needed to toughen up or she would be next. Therefore, Terezi would always try her best not to cry in front of the Gamblignant. Luckily, for her that night, Mindfang just stared at the little troll and waited for her to calm down. Seconds pass and Vriska could tell that Mindfang was talking to Terezi but with her distance, she could not tell what was being said. 

One male troll came up with a mop and started cleaning the blood off the floor but Mindfang pulled the mop away and dismissed the older looking troll. He complies and walks back to where ever he came from. The mop was then handed to Terezi, and Vriska could tell that Mindfang ordered her teal friend to clean up the blood. Terezi’s hands shook as she grabbed ahold of the mop and quickly started cleaning. The Captain stayed watching for about a minute but soon walked off once she knows that the job would get down. 

That night was a night that Vriska would never forget. There were many occasions that something similar would happen and when Vriska sees the trolls begging for food and their release, she looks away and pulls Terezi to follow. She feels no pity for them. Vriska is only planning to watch out for herself with Terezi second and if that means leaving those trolls to suffer in the room, then so be it. “The mess hall is this way.” Terezi starts to be dragged by Vriska further into the the crews sleeping quarters, and Terezi could tell that Vriska wants to get out of there. So, she follows her friend as they weave through traffic. One troll bumps into them and the young man apologizes without giving a second glance. Which was fine with the duo. The less attention, the better.

They finally arrive to the opposite side of the room and go through the door. They get a few worry glances their way but they enter to the mess hall anyways. It is dead inside there and Vriska is glad that no one is inside. There are many round tables with stools next to them. However, there are not nearly enough tables for the whole crew and only maybe one third of them could eat in there. On the left side there is a large counter with a door behind it. Vriska knows that the food and drinks are stored back there. “We are almost there.” Vriska whispers loudly and finally hands Terezi’s scalemate back to her. Terezi hugs her scalemate. Even though she got her stuff dragon back, Terezi unwisely still follows her friend. They walk behind the counter and Vriska tries to push the door but it does not budge. “It’s lock! Ah!” Vriska pounds her fists against the door but it stays still. Terezi assumes that the noise was too loud because a deck hand walks into the mess hall. 

“Hey. You two wigglers should not be in here.” Both trolls jump in fear out of being caught. They turn around and a young male, with sharp curving horns, pushes to get to them. The troll is maybe about eleven sweeps old and his shaved head makes him a bit intimidating. “Yeah we are!” Vriska starts to lie. “The Captain wants her rum! You better open this door or she will be mad!” Terezi had to admit that she was impressed with Vriska’s lying skills. The young blue blood did not hesitate to come up with an excuse. 

Due to this, the older troll is caught off guard. He stands next to the door and stares at Vriska for any hint of deception. He glances at Terezi for any signs of the story being false. Yet, Terezi stays looking at the her scalemate and when the young pirate finds no obvious lie, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key. The door gets unlock and Vriska runs inside. “Just get what you need to get. I don’t want the Captain getting mad about missing supplies! It will be my head on a stake if trolls start eating each other because of the lack of food.” 

Vriska laughs and see a bottle of rum sitting on a shelf. She jumps up and is able to grab a hold of it. The bottle is heavy and it almost slips out of her hands. Yet, the scorpio holds onto it for her dear life and carries it back out the door. The older troll looks around in hopes of no one else seeing the exchange and for his benefit, no one does. He closes the door once Vriska gets out and there is a big smile on her face. All while, Terezi is frowning at how her friend tricks the male troll. She knows that once Mindfang finds out, which she will, the boy would surely die. Mindfang would accuse him of thievery, which would be ironic due to her own lifestyle. Then he would deny it and try to explain himself but he would not be able to. He would then drop dead with a sword being shoved through his throat. 

Terezi knows that Vriska is aware of this and also knows that Vriska does not care. “We will go back to the Captain now.” Terezi mumbles and grabs Vriska’s left arm in hopes to get her moving. The troll nods his head uncaringly and starts locking the door back up. “Alright. Get out of here you two. Make sure someone older gets sent next time!” Yet, the two are already running out the door and back to the large block being shared by the crew. They continue to run back to where they came from and soon get back to their own privately shared block. 

“Yes! Let’s drink.” Vriska’s face is showing complete joy as she takes the drink into the center of the block. She sits on the floor and waves for Terezi to follow. Terezi sits down next to Vriska and she can see Vriska struggling trying to open the bottle. She tugs and pulls it, in hopes of opening it. Vriska then tries her teeth in opening it and as she does so, a growl can be heard from the scorpio. “Do you got it?” Terezi questions. There are many tugs on the bottle and soon a loud pop is heard and the alcoholic beverage is open. Vriska spits the cork out of her mouth and clings to the bottle. “I try first.” Vriska states eagerly and Terezi does not argue and places her scalemate next to her. There is a moment of hesitation from the cobalt blood but she ignores the mental warning and takes a big gulp of the drink. It does not taste as good as she thought it would and it makes her wonder why her ancestor drinks it. Seconds later, there is a slight burning sensation in her throat and it makes her start to regret consuming it. “Ew! It’s gross.” 

As Vriska makes her faces at the bottle of rum, Terezi starts laughing cruelly. The big smile on her face sickens Vriska even more and she pushes the bottle to her. “You try it.” Vriska states as she hopes for the burning to stop. “Unless you’re scared.” Vriska reflects Terezi’s shit eating grin and waits to see if her friend would chicken out or not. Terezi knows this and slowly picks up the bottle. It reaches her lips and Terezi can not stand how it smells. Yet, her pride prevents her from backing down and she takes a large amount of rum in her mouth. The few seconds that it sits there, makes her hate herself for agreeing to this nonsense. Terezi spits out the drink and some of it sprays on Vriska. 

The blue blood yelps and stands up in shock. “Terezi!” Vriska is complines and Terezi can tell that she is mad, but her anger causes Terezi to laugh even more. “That doesn't count. You need to drink it!” She uses her right foot to push the drink closer to her friend and the smile is still on Terezi’s face. “No. It’s bad.” Yet, Terezi picks up the bottle again. She holds it close to her face again as Vriska hovers over her, waiting. She gives in and opens her mouth. The liquid quickly goes down her throat this time and to her it is worse than anything she has ever tasted. It too starts to irritate her throat but not wanting to look weak in front of Vriska, she keeps a straight face. “You’re the real wiggler! You whined about it.”Terezi laughs again and Vriska gets mad at the comment. She yanks the bottle from her friend and drinks more of it. 

Vriska stares at Terezi as she drinks more of it down and Terezi keeps a smile on because she knows how bad it tastes. After a few seconds later, Vriska can no longer handle it and stops drinking it. “Wrong again Pyrope!” She extends her arm out with the drink in hand. Terezi knows this is now a challenge to see who will fold first and yet again, her pride forces her to play along. She takes the drink and could tell that it is lighter than how it was originally. Terezi could already feel her stomach starting to react to the rum and is leaning towards not drinking it. She unwillingly drink more but it is not as much as Vriska. “This is dumb.” Terezi complains. Vriska smirks and leans down to grab the bottle. Terezi does not think twice on giving it to her. However, she regrets it once Vriska raises the rum over her head and allow the contents to spill on her. “Stop!’ Terezi jumps to her feet and pushes her so called friend away from her. 

Yet, Vriska moves back and throws more of the rum on her. There is a cruel laugh coming from the Serket. However, when the door to their block opens suddenly, Terezi and Vriska freeze in fear. Terezi turns around and Vriska’s head shoots up to the door. Standing there is Mindfang, with a frown on her face. Vriska drops the rum in shock and it shatters on the floor. “What the fuck is going on here?” Mindfang demands and shuts the door behind her. She walks to the two trolls and Terezi picks up her scalemate in fear. Yet, the rum still drips all over her clothes but she stops worrying about that as it was the least of her concern. Vriska bites her bottom lip and she knows that she is in trouble. “I come in here to check up on you two and I walk in on this shit!” She stands over Terezi and she looks down at the floor. Vriska tries to stutter up an excuse but is quickly silence when Mindfang reaches out her. Her shirt is tightly gripped by her ancestor and Vriska tries not to cry. “Explain. Now.” Mindfang demands. 

“We-we just wanted to be pirates.” Mindfang stares at Vriska and to Terezi, who was refusing to look at the Captain. The anger of on Mindfang’s face fades with confusion replacing it.”What makes you think drinking would make you a pirate?” Vriska could feel her hands clamming up as she tries to explain herself. “We always see you do it...” Mindfang sighs and lets go of Vriska. She gives a hand gesture to Terezi to look at her. The teal blood gets the message and looks up but Vriska can tell that Terezi is terrified. “Listen you two. I never want to see something like this again...but... I am not really caught off guard by this. Who’s idea was it?” 

Vriska thought she was off the hook but once the question came up, her blood pusher picked up speed again. She did not want to get in trouble. She is only six and is scared of her ancestor. Vriska knows that she is sure to be disciplined if she admits to the crime. So out of fear she points to Terezi. The slightly younger troll is shock by her friend’s accusation and is also very angered by it. “She’s lying!” Terezi starts pleading and tears cover her face yet again because she knows that there is no way to convince Mindfang that Vriska did it. “It was Terezi’s idea.” Vriska keeps a straight face and stops her nerves. She stares Mindfang in the eyes as she lies right through her teeth. Mindfang keeps glancing between the two trolls. They can tell that she is having trouble deciding who was really the mastermind of the theft of the rum. 

Mindfang lets out her breath and kneels down next to Terezi. “Did you do it?” The words came out slowly and Terezi feels more nervous. The Pyrope shakes her head no. “I want a verbal answer. Yes or no?” Terezi’s throat tightens and she feels herself start to shake. She almost wants to vomit but she is not sure if it is the smell of the rum on her, the amount she consumed, or if she was really just that scared. Mindfang takes the silences as a sign of guilt and rises to her feet. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You,” She points to Vriska. “are going to sleep. Right now. Tomorrow you will be scrubbing the deck at dusk and when we reach land you are not allowed off ship.” Vriska groans and is ready to complain but somehow refrains from doing so. 

Her attention goes back to Terezi and even Mindfang almost feels for the troll. Almost. “As for you! Since this was your plan, I am sure that you think you are such a big troll.” Mindfang plucks Terezi’s scalemate away from the girl and into her own hands. “I am sure that means you have out grown this. So I will be holding onto this for a while!” Terezi starts to whine even more and tries to reach for her dragon back. “No! Please. That’s mine! It’s mine!” Mindfang pushes Terezi away. “Who payed for it? You? No. I bought it for you and you have lost your privilege to have it. You can earn it back once you make up for your behavior and I think the cargo crew could use an extra hand in moving all our heavy shipment for a couple of nights.” Terezi could feel her anger boil. She is angry at Vriska, Mindfang, and herself for allowing all of this to happen. Then the way Mindfang makes her comments so calmly only fuels the fire. 

“No! It’s not my fault! I don’t want to be here! I hate it here! I don’t want to be a dumb pirate!” Terezi tries to push Mindfang but the pirate does not budge. “Never lay your hands on me! Do. You. Understand?” Mindfang grabs Terezi by her left arm and places enough pressure to stop the troll from moving. Vriska just watches the scene unfold and was secretly glad that the attention was off of her. 

Terezi starts to cry even more and Mindfang decides not allow this from going on. Out of anger and tiredness, Mindfang raises her hand and strikes the Pyrope in the face. This resulted in Terezi standing there in shock and soon she looks up with her eyes still watering up. She slowly starts to make sounds of crying again. “Be quite! Do not cry anymore or you will get hit again.” In fear, Terezi bites her lip and stands there, with her hand on the spot where she got slapped. Once she feels that the situation was under control, Mindfang points to the Recuperacoon. “Go to sleep. Both of you and this time really go to sleep. Next time something like this happens, you will get a worse punishment. Never take anything on this ship that isn’t yours again.” Vriska does not say anything and quickly walks to her recuperacoon, not want the situation to linger on any longer. Terezi stays standing there for a moment but walks to the pile of clothes instead of her own coon. 

Mindfang shakes her head and walks out to the door. She glances back at the two and the silence is almost unbearable. Mindfang stops glancing around when no one would make eye contact with her. Instead, she looks at the stuff dragon in her hand and she gets a sick feeling from it. It was mocking her somehow and Mindfang is tempted to trash the toy. She sighs and leaves the two trolls to their own silence. Once she leaves Vriska turns to Terezi, who haves her face buried in the clothes, crying to herself. “Terezi?”

“Leave me alone...” The words are muffled but still understandable. “Sorry I got you in trouble.” Vriska apologizes and knows that it is pointless. “Leave me alone.” Terezi repeats the words and Vriska gets inside her coon once she reaches the conclusion that now was a bad time to talk to Terezi. Yet, right before she went to sleep she says one more “Sorry.” and hopes it will be that last time she will ever have to say it to Terezi.


	2. Labor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska and Terezi awaken early at night to get work done. All while we learn a bit more about the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Committing Mutiny. I am trying to see if I will be able to update weekly. My only concern is when my school starts! Depending on my classes will determine the speed of which I will update. So it may slow down around August time but I do hope to keep updating. I’ve slowed down in my other fanfictions due to writers block but I have a lot of ideas and plans for this story. With that being said, I am open to ideas and suggestions! If there is something you would be interested in seeing, please inform me. I am not shy on writing anything but rating may have to be raised, depending on what it is.
> 
> (MUTINY)

Waking up at dusk is something that Vriska almost never does. If she had the choice, she would be waking up every night at midnight and have fun during the day. However, with last the morning’s incident, she woken up by the first mate of the ship. He is a good troll that Vriska got to know very well. The troll is about 13 sweeps old but Vriska knows he is a very talented troll despite his age. His short haircut reminds her of the trolls enlisted in the military as his pointed horns are at the edge of his hairline. Even though he is tall and a bit muscular, he does not intimidate her. Vriska has even challenged him in the past for sword fights and even won a few! Yet, Terezi would always tell her that he allowed her to win. Of course Vriska would never believe Terezi and would call her a liar. Unfortunately, Vriska did not want to see him so early in the night. 

“Come on! Get up. Get up. Time to wake on this amazing night. The Captain want you up. So lets get moving!” He shakes Vriska lightly and she groans even though his voice booms. Vriska could feel her head pounding as her eyes start to open. God she hates how some trolls are so cheery so early in the night. Vriska debates on staying in her coon and ignore him but she knows it will result in her getting in more trouble. So she drags herself out of her coon still in her clothes from when she went to sleep in, because she was so terrified of getting hit as well. As she gets out, the older troll, named Landmark, helps her out of the coon. A “Thanks.” is muttered and she walks to the only exit.

The slime on her falls all over the floor and Vriska knows that Mindfang has warned her several times to not allow it to get everywhere. Yet, at the moment she is sure that today would not be one of the Captain’s “surprise inspection day”. Which she has failed so many times that Mindfang almost stopped checking up on their block. However, with the slime trail, and the rum from yesterday, made the expensive wooden floor look cheap but being only three sweeps old, Vriska does not care.

Vriska could still see Terezi sleeping and is almost annoyed about the fact that the Pyrope is still sleeping when the scorpio knows that she should be awake too. Yet, firstmate, Landmark must be a mind reader because he then makes his way to Terezi. When Vriska drags closer to the door and could her Terezi unnecessarily hissing at Landmark. She could hear him telling Terezi almost the thing that was said to Vriska. Yet the Pyrope must still be upset because of her constant, “No”. Vriska leaves the block, not really worrying about anything at the moment. 

All while, Terezi literally buries herself further into the pile. 

“Come on, little dragon! Get up! The Captain also wants you up. You are working tonight and the crew can’t do it without you. So lets get you up.” He tries to removes some of the dirty clothes off of Terezi but she keeps pushing herself deeper inside the pile. “Noooo.” Terezi starts to complain and keeps her eyes close as to hope that he would leave her alone. “You need to get up. The Captain will be very disappointed if you do not get to work. I don’t want you to get more in trouble.” He taps her shoulder to try to get Terezi to look at him. “No! She took Pyralspite.” Terezi sits up from the pile and Landmark can tell that she is upset. “She took what?” Yet, he is confuse as to what was taken away. “My scalemate.” 

“Oh! You named it. Ok. Well...listen. I can talk to the Captain. I can talk to her and see if I can get you your scalemate back. I can not promise anything to you but I will try, ok?” She clings the pile of clothes, hoping that it was the stuff dragon. Yet, she knows that it is not but it gives a little bit of hope to her. Seconds pass and Terezi stands up. Landmark smiles and guides her to the door to leave the block. “Get going. The Captain will be doing her rounds soon. If you get there before she does, it would be a good time for me to talk to her.” Terezi nods her head and opens the door herself. The firstmate follows Terezi out the room and eventually pass her up as he goes in the direction of the sick bay. 

Terezi continues going straight down the hallway all the way to the other side of the ship. She knows that she is wasting valuable time but Terezi really feels the need to use the Ablution trap and the gaper. There are not a lot of places to get clean on a ship. The closest thing they have is eight showerheads that are side by side, giving no privacy, where the crew quarters are located. It is always being used and being the youngest ones on the ship, Terezi tended to avoid that area. Then the gapers were also close to the showers. They are not used as often as one would think. Terezi would guess it is because most of the pirates on the ship are usually pissing off the side of the ship. Instead of going through all that hassle,Terezi and Vriska had always used Mindfang’s personal gaber room. The Gamblignant allows them to do so since they are young.

However, Terezi haves a bad feeling that she will lose that privilege sooner than Vriska, but she feels that it mostly comes from the fact that Vriska is Mindfang’s true descendant and not her. Tonight is one of those nights where she hopes that she will not get Mindfang’s attention, or even run into the Captain, on the way to the private gaber room. Terezi does know that she will run into Vriska and hopes that her friend is not taking too long in the gaper room. She really needs to get out of her rum staind shirt. 

When Terezi gets there, she quietly knocks on the Captain’s room, hoping that she is not inside. The door opens and to her disappointment it is Mindfang that opens the door. The Captain smiles and keeps the door wide open as she leans on the doorframe. “Yes?” Terezi debates if she should just walk away but she forces herself to respond. “I came to use Ablution trap.” Terezi points behind Mindfang. Even though Mindfang knows why she is there, she at times take an amusement to seeing others squirm. Yet, she knows that her cruelness can be overdone and she would go to sleep at day, hating herself for what she has done. She is only a troll after all and in moments of solitude, is when the guilt hits her. But she is prideful! The pirate can not and will not show weakness. Most importantly she will not bother hiding her true, and in reality rude, self. Especially to the Neophyte’s descendant and right now that is where she is at the moment. 

“Really now? Who said you could use it? How old are you?” Terezi is almost caught off guard but responds quickly. “I’m three. I am going to be four soon.” Mindfang raises her eyebrows; acting as if she did not know. “Are you now? My, you are getting older. Tell me. When will you turn four?” Terezi shifts her weight back and forward as she tries to come up with a response. “I don't know. What night is it?” Mindfang, to say the least, is now the one who is caught off guard by the question and tries not laugh at the young teal blood. “Well I can assure you that you still need to wait a few perigees before you turn four but you will get there soon enough. I suppose there was no point in asking. For you yourself is unsure. No matter.” 

Mindfang stops leaning on the doorframe and starts to walk back inside her personal block. With a quick movement of her fingers, Terezi can tell that the Captain wishes for her to follow and so she makes her way into the Captain’s block. “I only wished to know because you and Vriska will be gaining more responsibilities on the ship and I need to make sure that the both of you are getting the proper training.” A table is in the center of the block is where Mindfang walks to and she takes a seat in an expensive chair; one that could probably feed half of the crew. “I know you two are still young but the earlier you get started the better. If every troll in my crew started at your age then I would be ruling the whole planet by now!” Mindfang laughs and places her feet on the table and carefully balances on the two back legs of the chair.

“Proper training?” Terezi stands near the table. She knows not to sit unless offered to. 

“That’s right, wiggler. I want to see the both of you be leaders in my fleet. I plan on Vriska running one of the ships and you can be her first mate. Being in charge of a ship is a lot of work and I need good trolls working on it.” Even though Terezi does not care to run a ship, she was curious as to why Vriska would be chosen and not her. “Why can’t I have a ship?”

“Because it is a very hard job and Vriska is going to need all the help she could get.” Mindfang laughs at her own comment and Terezi does not know if she should laugh as well. “But I digress. Anyways, you and Vriska will be learning a lot of new skills the next couple sweeps that will help you survive. So do not take any training lightly. Let’s say you slack off in navigation. And then one night you are lost out at sea with no other ship or land in sight. You and the crew will be a horrible situation that will result in a couple of deaths and one might be yours. The crew does not like a poor leader. If they see weakness they will take advantage of it and I do not want that to happen to you or Vriska. So you two need to start looking out for each other and stop doing dumb shit like yesterday. Do you understand?” Terezi nods her head. “Yes.”

“Yes, Captain. Not just yes. I am your Captain.You need to start addressing me properly. I don’t want it to get to where corporal punishment is needed. That’s why I am warning you this last time.” Mindfang points to Terezi as she starts to lecture her once again about the title situation. She is right. This is not the first time that Mindfang had to correct the Pyrope on what to call. Mindfang never had the problem with Vriska and it already angers the Gamblignant on how defiant Terezi can be sometime. It reminds her too much of Redglare and that is something she is trying to prevent. Another Redglare. 

“Yes Captain.” Terezi corrects. She does not want to create an situation over something stupid. So she decides it is best to comply. “Excelent! Now you need to get going. Work needs to get down.” She points behind her, where the door to the gaper room was located. “Also, tell Vriska to get out already. I wouldn’t be shock she fell back to sleep in there.”

“Ok.” Terezi starts to make her way past the the pirate. “It’s Captain! Always end your conversations with Captain.” The Pyrope turns back around. She gives an “Ok Captain,” and continues to make her way to the gaper room. She can hear Mindfang give out a heavy sigh and knows that it will not be the last time she will have to correct her. 

Terezi knocks on the door and could hear scrambling behind the other side of the door. “Coming!” The door shoots open and Vriska comes out wearing a white long sleeve blouse with a black vest over it. The vest haves her sign on it and her black baggy pants almost does not even fit her. For reasons unknown, the Serket is not wearing shoes and Mindfang always gets mad when one of them do not wear some kind of footwear on deck, claiming that they could step on something. “Hey Terezi.”

“Hi Vriska.” There is disappointment in Terezi’s voice and Vriska knows that sh is not saying anything as to not make a scene. Vriska knows she going to have to make it up with Terezi some how. “We can play later on.” Vriska tries to make a friendly offer and hopes that the Pyrope would take it. If so then Vriska could easily lose and allow Terezi to bask in the glory of winning one of their many games. “No. I will be tired.” A simple excuse but she hope it is enough to for Vriska to leave her alone. “Come oooooooon! We can play with that dragon.” Terezi frowns at Vriska’s comment. “It got taken. Remember?” Terezi can feel Mindfang grin from the other side of the room, and Vriska catches her mistake. “Oh... We can play what you want. Anything.” Vriska puts a smile on her face, trying to play off her mistake. 

Yet, Terezi knows this and allows the Serket to bask in her own mistake. It brings her some comfort and she knows that she can not stay mad at Vriska for a long time period. “Ok. We can play later.” Vriska smiles and jumps up slightly. “Yeah! Scourge Sisters are back!” Terezi can not help but to smile at the comment. Scourge Sisters. A nickname they both came up with.   
The pirate watches the interaction between the two, and she actually does take enjoyment in seeing the two trolls get along. It was rare when they would fight but when they did, they did not hold back and truth be told she knows that it was Vriska all along. However, she was curious to see if her descendent would take the blame when it really was her fault. It did not shock her when she heard the lie come straight from her mouth. She thought that Vriska would at least not shove all the blame on her friend. “Come on you two. You have work to do tonight! All night in fact. So getting moving Vriska. You know where you are suppose to be.” Without looking Mindfang addresses Terezi. 

“Don't take your time in there Terezi! I want you out in five minutes. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on this ship and there will no slackers as long as I am in charge! Understood?” There is no hesitation in the answer. “Yes, Captain.” They both respond. However, Vriska does it with a bit more enthusiasm and Terezi could barely be heard. Vriska walks forward as Terezi makes her inside the gaper room.

(MUTINY)

“Vriska, come here.” Mindfang quietly calls over her descendant right when the Pyrope closed the door. The throat of Vriska's can be seen swallowing in nervousness. She makes her way to her Captain and waits for what she was going to say. “I know you two are still little wigglers but if anyone else stole from me, I would have cut off their hands.” Vriska subconsciously opens and closes her hands. “That is why you two got off easy.” Mindfang leans close to Vriska to ensure her message gets to her. “If you steal from me again, you will have markings of a scourge on you and you really will be a Scourge Sister. I plan on trusting you with a ship one day but never think about doing something that stupid again.” Vriska tries to make eye contact but with Mindfang's glare, it is almost impossible. “Why are you so mad about it?” Her voice is gives off sadness. 

Mindfang gives out a heavy sigh. There is false anger in her face and she knows she is not really mad at the two. Yet, her under line reason is more than enough to keep her motivated into doing all that she did. “I can not have you make the same mistakes as I did. You need to look out for yourself and keep an eye on Terezi.” Mindfang leans in close with a concern look that she mastered over the sweeps. “I do what I do for what is best for you and to be honest, Pyrope is a threat. She is hear to be watched by us instead of being put down. Her ancestor was a danger to us and caused her own self destruction because she was a fool. I don't want the same fate for Terezi.” Vriska nods her head understandingly.

Even though she does not know everything, Vriska trusts Mindfang. It is her ancestor and she is the one who is raising her. Vriska haves no doubt in what Mindfang says but she can’t help but to think that there is something wrong with the statement. However, she does not say anything and allows Mindfang to continue talking. “Good. Now, get out of here.” Vriska turns and starts walking to the door. All while deeply thinking about what was just said to her.

(MUTINY)

The physical labor starts taking a toll. Terezi has only been working for three hours and her back and arms are already aching. Even though the labor crew gives her the lightest boxes to push, it is still too much for the young troll to handle. Yet, she kept on working for as long as she could. However, soon her body could no longer keep up with workload and the short troll desperately needed to catch her breath. She know that she is getting pushed to her limits because of them just arriving on land. In fact, they are at a popular port and are taking full advantage of it by moving a lot of their (illegal) cargo. However, someone needed to be transport the goods out of the dark corners of the ship to the higher levels, and that is all she had been doing all night.

Now, she is sitting quietly on one of the creates in the lower, darker part of the ship. It is humite and it almost makes it hard to breath. Yet, she still continues to sit quietly down there. Yes, she should be working but the troll needed a break and the other crew members pretended to not know where she is at. So Terezi sits in the dark, mentally plotting how to anger Mindfang. 

She knows she will never do anything to retaliate against the dangerous pirate but it brought her some comfort during the day. Sometimes she wishes she was the one in charge. There would be days where Terezi would pretend to be the Captain of a crew that worked as vigilantes. They would travel the seas, bringing a halt to the crimes of the world. The Empire would respect her and recognized her for her courageous and bold personality. They would give her medals and offer her a high ranking job. Terezi would then become so well known, that even the Empress would recognize her and thank Terezi for her services. 

Alas, she knows it is just a dream. A false hope that will forever mock her. She knows she will never do anything amazing with her life. Terezi gains a sickening feeling knowing that she will spend the rest of her life under Mindfang, stuck on a ship. Then the thought of her friend commanding her makes her pity her own life even more. All she wants is another life, another chance to do something more with her life because this life is not for her. She truly hates being a pirate and wants nothing to do with the life style. Terezi knows she wants something more. Yet, she does not know how to get it.

(MUTINY)

“You are not even halfway done clean yet?” Mindfang questions.

Vriska rudely snorts. “It’s a ship!” There are suds all over the deck as Vriska has been trying to get the deck clean as fast as possible. Yet, using a small brush to clean the deck, and having no help, really slowed her down. This is why she gets annoyed with her ancestor at times. Mindfang would assign her a job and when it would not get done in a short amount of time, Vriska would get criticized for it. So, there Vriska was; on her knees trying to get the floor clean while having Mindfang complain about the job. 

“That does not matter. The job should have been done by now. If you do not finish up soon you don’t eat tonight. If can’t carry your weight around here then there are consequences. Do you understand, Vriska?” Mindfang lightly taps her shoes in impatiences. All while Vriska does her best not show any negative feelings, knowing that it will get her in trouble again. “Yeah.’ Vriska responds. However, Mindfang is not happy with the answer. “Yeah? I am not your buddy. I am your Captain. You do not address me like that. You better clean up your attitude fast or else I will speed up the processes. Got it?” Mindfang leans in, staring down at her descendant. “Yes, Captain. I get it.” Vriska’s voice is bitter but Mindfang ignores it. “Excellent! You got one hour to finish up. If it is not done by then, you are not eating tonight. So if you don’t want to be hungry, I suggest you pick up the speed.” Mindfang turns sharply on her heels and Vriska gives another, “Yes Captain.”

‘I will be back later. I need to check up on Pyrope next.” Mindfang does not hear a comment from Vriska but knows that she wanted to say something.Yet, by now Vriska knows when to hold her tongue and does not interfere. 

Mindfang marches forward into the lower parts of the ship. Some of the crew frantically moves out of her way as others try to do some last minute cleaning. Mindfang pays them no mind and only nods her head when her crew acknowledges her presence. 

To her dislike, Mindfang can not find the Pyrope and is ready to throw the next troll overboard out of anger, which she has done before. Yes, she knows her temper is short and that many trolls tremble before her. However, the only troll that truly presented a challenge was Redglare. Just the thought of the older teal blood almost brings a sick grin to her face. She was a brave troll after all. Redglare was not afraid of her. She never broke a glance when a challenge was presented. She was sharp and dangerous. Redglare was just like Mindfang, and because of that she knows that why Redglare was an excellent rival. In fact, that was what Mindfang wanted when she meet the teal troll. Yet, Redglare could not be tamed by the pirate and as a result was caught in her own trap.

 

When Redglare died, Mindfang would not lie, she enjoyed the victory. When the light in the Neophyte’s eyes faded, it did not bring not only a sense of comfort knowing that there is one less problem to deal with, but a feel of true power. However, the pirate would always respect Redglare for many reasons. She was a worthy opponent, one that she was not had in a long time. The fresh blood was brave and smart. Her wits helped her create strategies and her speed was deadly. She was inexperience but fought like an expert. Her confidence greatly impressed Mindfang and at one point she even was tempted with the idea of asking for her to join her crew. There were even days where the pirate would stay up late fantasizing them having a strong Kismesises relationship. The chaos and fun that could have fallen between them made Mindfang feel like a pupa having their first black love, and she could feel herself being more hatestruck once she sensed the Neophyte gave off signs of feel the same. However, the teal blood shoved the thoughts aside and proceed her own path to justice. In the end, one of her key traits end up being the death of her. With disappointment, Mindfang was ready to move on until she ran into a grub name Terezi Pyrope. 

Mindfang’s smiles fades.

Terezi. Mindfang remembers when she first meet the troll. Terezi was just a little wiggler at the time. She had no understanding what was going on at the time and in fact there was even a smile on the Pyrope’s face as Reglare hung from the noose, not comprehending what was unfolding. Mindfang can still feel her own emotions from that. her adrenaline was still rushing and her instinct to kill was overwhelming. It would have been easy to kill Terezi. She could have left her to starve or cut her down with her blade, but no of that felt right. It is not like she pitied the poor thing but in the back of her mind she knows that killing Terezi would get her no where. It would be very undeserving to do that to her just because of the challenges that Redglare brought. It was then that she knew why she wanted Terezi alive; the ironic pleasure of having a Pyrope working under her. Mindfang viewed it as a deserving punishment for their blood and Mindfang prays that Redglare lives on in some form just so she can rub it the teal blood’s face of the results of her actions were. 

Yet, as time moved forward, Mindfang actually did not mind Terezi. The troll was mannerful and listens very well to instructions. She is attentive and always had a sharp demeanor. Terezi is young troll who takes after a lot from her dead ancestor.A bit too much for Mindfang’s liking. Even though she was too young at the time, Mindfang always had that paranoid feeling in her mind telling her that Terezi knows. The last thing Mindfang wants is for Terezi to know who Redglare really was. If Terezi ever found out, she knows that the troll would react unpleasant to the news and right now the best thing to do is to make sure that she never finds out. ‘It is for her own good.’ It is a lie she told herself many time to where she is starting to believe it herself.

“Captain!” A voice breaks her thoughts and that is when she realized that she is in one of the lower parts of her ship. However, she was not expecting her first mate to be down there as well. ‘It is a fine night to see you Captain. Tell me. What brings you down here?” He questions as makes his way closer to Mindfang. “I am going to check up on Terezi, but I am wondering what brings you down here as well.” A smile, innocent smile comes to his face. “I was looking for you Captain.” His statement catches her off guard. “Is there a problem on one of my ships that needs attending to?” 

“Oh! No. Nothing like that! No. I just wondering...a lot of rumors are going around the ship about the wigglers. I was just wonder what really happened.” Mindfang rolls her eyes. “Wigglers being wigglers. That’s all. You know they can’t stay out of trouble so they are in trouble now.” He nods his head understandingly. ‘Of course. I understand. I was just asking because I heard that the Little Dragon got her actually toy dragon taken from her.” Mindfang groans at the statement. She knows where this is going. “Yes. Yes. I took that stupid toy away from her. She is lucky that I did not make her sleep out on deck with the sun at high rise.” Landmark does his best to not shake his head at the comment. “Like you said, they are just wigglers. They mean no harm at all. There are a lot of things they do not understand. I am sure they learned their lesson. You know that her toy means a lot to her. It is all she haves left of her life before coming aboard.”

“That’s the problem. I do not needed her remembering or knowing about any of that. She clings to that toy for reason unknown to her but we know! We know that Redglare gave it to her. We know that it is the last she haves of her other life. That is why I should have never let her keep it!” Mindfang harshly whispers as to prevent the wrong ears from hearing. “But you did let her keep it.”

“And now I am starting to regret it. I should have left it behind.” Her last words were mostly to herself. “Captain…do not control out of fear. She will grow to hate you and be rebellious. I am not saying let her running around loose but make her respect you. Teach her to want to follow you!” Mindfang hears his words and knows he is right. He is a good troll that mindfang saved from being recruited as a target pratice by the Navy. Out of gratefulness, he swore to always serve her and eventually became her first mate. 

“Tell me, how should I go about this then?” She knows how he is. Mindfang knows what his is trying to do and Mindfang is aware of his silver tongue. “Give the dragon back to her. I am sure she learned her lesson by now. In fact, I know Vriska got the message too. I think it is time you forgive them.” A smile appears on Mindfang’s face. ‘He is always looking out for the wigglers.’ “Well, since you have so much faith in them, next time they misbehave, it will on you. Got it?” He nods his head. “Understood, Captain.” There is no hesitation in his words and no fear.   
With a turn of her heels Mindfang walks off to find Terezi as she could tell that her first mate is celebrating his little victory. 

(MUTINY)

Terezi can hear the clicking of Mindfang’s boots. The pattern of her walking is strong and unique that Terezi can pinpoint it out anywhere. It help that the Captain is the only one on board with such boots. So once she heard the familiar clicking, Terezi jumps off the crate and looks around. She tries to find something to do to look productive, knowing that if she is caught doing nothing it will result in trouble. Luckily for her, she finds a small box and lifts it up. Despite its size it still haves weight and Terezi starts walking with it in her hands in hopes to fool the pirate. “Terezi? Where-Oh. There you are. What you doing?” Terezi looks over the box and pretends to just notice Mindfang. “Working.” Mindfang looks at the box. It has no type of labeling on it. “Where are you taking that to? I don’t think you are suppose to move that.”Mindfang lightly taps on the box and Terezi gets the hint to put it down. “Sorry Captain. I guess I picked the wrong one.” Mindfang shakes her head. “Maybe you should not be working down here then…come on. Let’s go on deck and fetch Vriska. I suppose I can allow you two to go out inland while we stock up. What do you say?” A smile enters Terezi’s face as she tries to contain her eagerness. “Yes! Yes, Captain!” Terezi quickly corrects. “Get moving then.” Terezi laughs and starts to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The story would have been up faster but I was at college for three days and had no time to write and that threw me back a couple of days. However, things happen! I also do plan to go out of town again twice this summer but i will find time to update! Remember to leave comments and ideas because every bit is nice, helpful, and very ENCOURAGING. Thank you and please leave a comment.


	3. Dangerous Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska and Terezi decide to venture into town and have a good time. Nothing can go wrong!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who has supported the story. I forgot to inform you guys that this story is also on fanfiction.net So if you are interested on reading it there, it is also being updated/ posted there. My username is different there! It is: Hiddenchaser
> 
> With that being it, enjoy this next chapter.
> 
> (MUTINY)

Terezi can see the skip in Vriska’s step. There is excitement in the air from both trolls as they know that they are going on land tonight. Yes, Vriska loves the sea but seeing the same trolls and places get boring after a while for the wild troll. In Terezi’s case, she never was really fond of the water. The young troll always found herself having a better time on land than the sea, and it is to the point to where she wishes for a life on land. 

Luckily tonight is the night that they both get explore a medium size town. Even though Mindfang threaten Vriska with banning her from the next land visit, she finally gave in and allowed both of them to cause chaos somewhere else for once. Terezi knows that Mindfang is pushing them off as a means to get away from them. In fact, in the past she would bluntly tell them to leave her alone for a couple of hours because she was tired of the two trolls. This is one of those moments where Terezi believes this would apply to. 

Yet she was ok with it. To her, the land is a huge improvement from the sea. There are so many things to do on land. She could run for miles with nothing in her way. Terezi could climb tall trees or venture into dark caves. However, what she loves most about land is the amazing cities. In the city there are hundreds of foods to eat and new trolls to meet. So this is where Terezi is; walk quietly behind Vriska and Mindfang. 

The Serkets walk and talk but Terezi haves no interest in their conversation. They speak of pointless things and Terezi is very bored of the conversation to the point to where she is ready to jump in the water to get away from them. However, Mindfang turns back, as she continues walking and calls out to her, “Terezi! Get over here.” Terezi quickens her pace as they are on the edge of the town. As soon as she catches up, Mindfang speaks. “Listen up you two. I suppose, since you both have been working hard, I decided to allow you guys to go on land tonight.” There is a grin Vriska’s face and Terezi is also overcomed with joy but tries to hide it.

“But you two need to stay together! Stay in public areas and don’t anything stupid. I can’t be bailing you two out of trouble...mostly because of my own record. Got it?” Vriska eagerly answers with a, “Yes Captain!” and Terezi soon follows. 

“Good. Be back on the ship in no later than five hours. If you are not on the ship, I will leave you behind.” Mentally Terezi wishes to never enter the ship again. She wishes to actually stay on land, but she knows that she would not be able to survive on her own. Alternia is a cruel place that shows no mercy and Mindfang constantly reminds Terezi to be grateful that she was saved by the pirate and not left to die. 

The reminders make the teal blood reluctant to obey the Gamblignat and tries to hold her tongue. However, she knows that she would not dwell on the past or what will come in the future. Tonight she and Vriska are going to have fun in town. They have a few Caegars between them that they have been saving. Now they plan on spending every single Caeger as fast as they can. They have been waiting for a long time to get an opportunity to spend their wealth and tonight is will be the night where they will accomplish that.

Mindfang leaves the young trolls to their fun as she goes off to either handle work or to get drunk. Either way, its was not their problem. “Let’s look around.” Vriska pulls Terezi off into the direction of the shops. They make their way and the closer they get, the more trolls start to surround them. A lot of them are around the green blood, low blue blood category and therefore don’t seem to pay much attention to them as they blended in with the trolls. Yet they do a horrible job at not bumping into anyone and few even give the pair a nasty look. Terezi was the only one to notice and Vriska did not care at all of the other trolls. “Where should we go first?” Terezi turns to her friend but Vriska is too busy staring at all the shops. 

They are few shops shops that catch their interest but there a lot of them along with mini stands scattered about. Most of them are selling food and clothes, and Vriska is not impressed with the options. Yet, Terezi sees a simple brown shop with a large sign advertising their product of...toys. “What about there?” Terezi asks and Vriska tuns in the direction. “Yeah! Good eye Terezi. They must cool stuff.” 

Both trolls slither through a large group of trolls and even though they get even more glares, they continue to push past them. Terezi is the first one up the steps to the shop and uses all her weight to push the door open. Vriska steps up beside her and they enter the shop together. Inside there are a large variety of toys and games everywhere. It is colorful inside and Terezi is already glad with their choice of entering the shop. Due to her being distracted, Terezi almost did not notice a young female brown blood is standing behind a counter, tinkering with a broken wooden toy. “Welcome! Feel free to look around. l will be up here if you need any assistance.” Vriska ignores the troll and is already exploring the store, but Terezi at least simply nods her head at the older woman. 

“What should we get?”

Vriska questions as her eyes stare at every available toy. “There is so much!” Terezi can feel joy once she sees countless amount of games she could own. Vriska stretches to reach for an item on a shelf. With enough effort, she pulls down a game called battle ships. “Let’s get this.” She nearly shoves the game in Terezi’s face. “No! That’s dumb.” A frown arrives on Vriska’s face and she glances at the game. “What game do you want then?” Her voice is demanding and Terezi can hear a bit of Mindfang in her already. 

“I don’t know!” Terezi starts quickly grabbing random toys and tosses them to the side when she did not find it interesting. That was until she found a red dragon cape. “This! I need this.” Terezi quickly throws the cape over her shoulders and dawns on the cape. She wears it proudly and her sharp teeth shine brightly in joy.

“No! Now that’s dumb! That’s just a costume. It’s not even a real toy.” Terezi knows that Vriska is holding all the Caegars and the slightly older troll can easily just buy what she wants, even though it is both of their money combine. So, Terezi decides to try and outsmart Vriska. “Yeah, but...because of you….my scalemate got taken away.” Terezi purposely lowers her voice and eyes but can feel the mood change from Vriska. She does her best to keep up the act even though Terezi genuinely does want her scalemate back.

Vriska holds her breath and stares at her friend and back to the game in her hand. A moments later, she gives out a heavy sigh. “Ok. Ok. We’ll get it! Just...don’t be mad at me.” Terezi can tell that Vriska is now upset and almost feels bad about playing a manipulative game to her friend. Yet, she really wants the cape. To hide her feelings of feeling bad for tricking Vriska, Terezi laughs and pushes Vriska to the counter. “Then buy it.” Vriska drags her feet and rolls her eyes at her friend. “Wait! Let’s keep looking.” Terezi stops and thinks about it and starts nodding her head. 

“Yeah! Ok!” Terezi is already excited that she was getting what she wanted-which was extremely rare. Usually when the teal blood would ask for something Mindfang would demand why, and when it was not a good answer, she would not get it. Luckily for Terezi, tonight is her night! She is finally going to get things her way and she can not wait till she shows off her new dragon cape off to everyone on the ship. Everyone will be so jealous of her cool new look and she knows that this will probably be the best thing she will own for sweeps to come. 

They move to the back of the shop, an area which they have not explore yet. There are balls scattered about and Terezi knows that other trolls were playing in that area at one point too. Vriska grabs a ball and tosses it in the air lightly. When it starts to come back down, she gives it a hard kick. The ball flies to Terezi, who luckily is able to dodge the ball. “Watch it!” Yet, Vriska laughs and picks up another ball and does the same thing action. Her aim is bad and therefore the ball goes no where near Terezi. Vriska laughs and is ready to pick up another ball until Terezi picks the previous ball kicked to her. With a hard toss, the ball goes straight to Vriska. She was unfortunate to not be able to dodge the ball and it slams into her right shoulder. Vriska loses her balance for a moment but recovers. “Hey! That hurts.”

She rubs her shoulder and haves a worrying feeling that a bruise will show later. The stinging pain does not help and soon Vriska can see a dumb grin on Terezi’s face. With a growl Vriska pick up the ball that hit her and aggressively throws it back to Terezi. The Pyrope is fast and throws herself on the floor and manages to avoid the hit. “You miss!” Terezi laughs and rolls on the wooden floor and Vriska is ready to give up on attacking Terezi. As the Pyrope laughs, Vriska can hear the front shop door open and leans back to get a glance to see who enters. Terezi catches her friends reaction but stays put on the floor. “Who is it?” Terezi questions, even though she knows that it is likely other trolls their age. Yet, three male adult trolls walk in instead. They make their way to the counter and out of Vriska’s sight. “Just a few trolls. Nothing interesting.” 

Vriska losses interest and sits on the floor next to Terezi. The Pyrope is now laying on her stomach and stretching out her arms to try and reach for a puzzle on the lower shelf. She does this for a few seconds and Vriska can feel herself getting annoyed with her friend’s antics. Vriska scoots close to the shelf and pulls down the puzzle and hands it to Terezi. The Pyrope rips the box open and the puzzle pieces fly everywhere. With a hum Terezi starts working on the puzzle as her face is rubbing against the dirty floor. Vriska just watches her friend’s progress not really wanting to play along. She could hear the adult trolls talking and it is almost impossible to hear the conversation. “Help me with this puzzle…” 

Terezi asks for the help and Vriska looks down at the puzzle. Terezi is making no progress and she can not even tell what it is suppose to be. So Vriska picks up the box and notices that it is a picture of the Alterina capital. In the background Vriska can see the palace, where the Empress lives, but even so, Vriska makes no effort to help out Terezi. “Puzzles are boring. Just like you.” Vriska stretches her right leg and kicks part of the puzzle. Terezi growls decides to instead roll on the puzzle. Vriska stands up and makes her way through the isles. She already getting bored of this place and is ready to go somewhere new. She quietly makes her way to the front of the store and pretends to be interested in a deck of cards. However, she eavesdrops in on the adult troll’s conversation. 

“Find a way to get the money.” 

Vriska could tell that two trolls are around her shade of blood color and the last troll is in the lower part in the greens, almost yellow. The female brown blood already stopped working on the broken toy and takes one glance at Vriska but ignores her. “You will have it, but there is not a lot of business in this side of the town. I am trying my best with what I got.” Her voice is gentle and calm despite the large trolls leaning on the counter. “We know. We know. It just that we need our money and it would a shame if we had to bring your shop into this mess. We may have to take ownership of this establishment if we don’t get paid more. Your debt is breaking our business and we owe a few indigo bloods some money as well.” Vriska can see the worry in the troll’s face and looks back down the aisle to see where Terezi was at. 

The younger troll is off the floor and is already slowly putting up the pieces up and making it look like it was never open. Vriska discreetly signals Terezi over but the Pyrope stares at her for a few seconds before shaking her head no. Vriska rolls her eyes and clings to the deck of cards even though she does not plan on buying it. She can hear the trolls still talking but does not care for their financial situation. Vriska places the cards on the shelf and catches something in the corner of her eye. 

It was a pair of dice and she plucks it into her hands and is fascinated by it. The moment it reaches her hands, Vriska realized that she wants it. However, they do not have enough to pay for Terezi’s cape and the dices. She knows that she needs to have it, they looked way too cool not to own. So Vriska quickly pushes the dice in her pant’s pocket. Her blood pusher pounds against her chest because she knows she is purposely stealing, something she was never good at. Light foot steps sneak up on Vriska. “Whatcha doing?” Vriska jumps and turns to see Terezi standing next to her. She gives out a sigh. “Nothing. Let’s got out of here.” Vriska reach into her other pocket and pull out their savings. “You pay.” The Caegars are shoved to Terezi.

She does not say much and starts making her way to the counter, mentally wondering why Vriska was acting weird. The older trolls move out of her way and Vriska soon follows. Terezi points the cloak she is wearing. “I want this.” She places the money on the counter and the brown blooded woman starts counting it. Vriska starts taping her foot impatiently. One of the blue blooded trolls noticed the action and starts to examine her. Vriska can feel the stare and is praying for Terezi to hurry up but when one troll speaks up, she gets scared. “Hey! What’s that in your pocket, yah little wiggler?” A hand tightly grips onto Vriska’s bicep and she knows that she just got caught stealing. A mean glare comes from the troll holding on to her. “What?! Nothing! Let me go! You can’t touch me!” He is unconvinced and reaches into her pocket and pulls out the stolen dice. Vriska pulls out of the troll and she already gained everybody’s attention. “Thieves! Get them!” 

“Run!” Vriska starts sprinting to the exit and Terezi manages to slip past all of them, even though they tried to get a hold of her cape. They both burst through the front door and jump over all the steps. They can hear the pound of heavy feet following closely and out of fear, they are able to run at top speed. Vriska tightly grips Terezi hand. They weave past the large crowds with no problem but looking over her shoulder, Vriska can see the three male trolls still following them. “This is all your fault!” Terezi complains as they run behind an old, run down building. Terezi suddenly stops and points to a small hole in the wall that is barely covered by a piece of wood. “In there!” 

Vriska turns and quickly throws the board out of the way. She grabs Terezi and starts pushing her inside first. Terezi slips in the building with no problem and Vriska starts to enter. Terezi does her best to get out of her friend’s way and when she is half way in, Vriska can feel a harsh tug on her feet. “Crap! Help!” Terezi grabs on to Vriska hands and pulls to keep her friend inside. Vriska’s nails dig harshly into Terezi’s skin the Pyrope does her best not to yelp at the sudden pain. Yet, the force is too strong and Terezi quickly starts to lose her grip on Vriska. Eventually, Vriska is dragged out of the hole. She screams and shouts for Terezi and a arm shots inside right when the Pyrope was about to go outside to retrieve her friend. Terezi is startled and throws herself back, away from the adult trolls. “Get out of there, you teal shit!” She starts breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. Terezi gets off the floor and walks back away from the arm. She is out of reach and Terezi keeps herself from stomping on the arm out of anger. Yet, the troll gives up and Terezi feels sick when she can hear Vriska’s screams and yelling from the other side.

“Terezi! Help me! Get Mindfang!” The yells continue until starts hearing Vriska scream in pain. “Shut up! You think you can rip us off? Well guess what? You are going to make us a ton of money on the slave market. A Cobalt blood like you will make us rich!” Yet, Terezi can still hear Vriska screaming. “Forget the other one! We got the higher blood. She should be more than enough. Let’s get out of here.” One of the trolls reason, and Terezi is silently glad that they are leaving. Yet when she realizes what just happened, she throws herself on the floor in the dark room. She can still hear the fear in Vriska’s voice as it slowly starts to fade as the further they drag her friend away from her. Terezi pulls up the courage to crawl to the hole in the wall and unwisely shoves her head outside to see her friend forcibly being pulled away. They are already making a good progress away from the building and Terezi feels a sickening feeling as her friend gets taken away. 

Now all she can do is question how Mindfang will react to the news.

(MUTINY)

Terezi runs.

She runs fast and to the ship that she hates the most. This will truly be the first time in her life that she wants to get back on the ship fast. Terezi desperately needs help from Mindfang. In the back of her mind she fears her future punishment but is just concern about Vriska. Yet with her rushing thoughts, she comes to realize that she is already at the docks and the ship is in sight. Her feet tap lightly on the wood even though she is in a rush and Terezi almost slips trying to get on board the ship. A few of the crew snicker at her clumpy movement, not realizing the situation. 

With fast reflexes Terezi prevents her fall as her eyes scan the deck with for Mindfang. In seconds Terezi notices the Captain standing near the entrance of her personal quarters. She is drinking rum without a care in the world. Mindfang glance meets to where Terezi is standing and the teal blood forces herself to run to the Captain. “Well, you’re back early.” Mindfang comments. She ignores the the heavy breathing from the teal blood, assuming it came from the two running around the town. “Vriska! She in danger!”

Terezi is frantic and out of breath. The mood of the Captain changes quickly once Vriska gets brought up.She is her descendant after all. “What’s wrong with Vriska?” her voice is trying to remain calm but Terezi can hear a lot of mix tons in her voice; fear, anger, concern. “Some trolls took her! They took her away. I tried to help. I really tried!” “Who?! Who took her, Terezi?” Terezi knows her own voice is starting to crack as she starts to feel sadness instead of fear now. “I don’t know! I don't know!” 

Her words are rushed and she shakes her head. Yet, Mindfang pulls the Pyrope closer and crouches down to get a better view of Terezi. Even though the Pyrope is not looking at Mindfang, she can feel Mindfang’s anger boiling. “What blood color are they? Where did it happen? Did they say names or a place? Shit, Terezi! I need to know these things!” Terezi catches her breath. “They...they said they were going to sell her in as a slave.” Terezi could not hold back tears anymore and did not care. All she wants is Vriska back.  
“How did this happen? I told you two to stay together?!” 

Terezi can hear Mindfang's voice starting to rise. “We did! We did but it was her fault!” Mindfang stands up straight again. “Ok...We will get her back and find them and they will pay for messing with my blood. Stay on board of the ship. I am taking a couple of the crew with me to find her. Do. Not. Leave. The. Ship.” 

Without say another word, Mindfang quickly starts making her way off the ship. She shouts orders and crew members start to follow in behind her with swords in hand. They look ready to raid the town and Terezi would not be shock if they left the place in a blazing fire.  
Yet all she can do is pull the hood of her dragon cape up to cover her face. “This is all my fault…” Her voice starts to crack again as Terezi starts to blame herself. If only she would have not tried to manipulate Vriska into buy her that cape. Then Vriska would not have tried to steal. This could have been avoided and now Vriska is gone. Her only friend is gone. “I need to find her.” Terezi knows that not obeying order will get her in trouble, but she can not sit back and just wait around. She is going to at least try and find Vriska.

With a confident nod, Terezi sets off.

(MUTINY)

“Let go!” Vriska thrashes her arms and legs but the trolls are way older and bigger than her. They have no trouble containing her. Her hair is being pulled along with her collar of the shirt. Even after a long walk, Vriska refuses to stop fighting. If there anything that Mindfang taught her, is to not give up without a struggle. Despite this way of thinking, it is a pointless struggle against the older trolls. No matter how hard she tries to get away, there is no possible way for Vriska to pull away from the trolls. So with a lot of tugging and dragging, Vriska is pushed a hive in the middle a thick treed area. Vriska knows that they have not gone too far from the town and hopes that Terezi got helped. “When Mindfang finds out what you are doing, you’ll be sorry you messed with us!” Vriska threatens but they ignore her and continue to drag her to the hive. 

The hive is extremely small to the point to where that it maybe only has three rooms. Unforchantly, Vriska did not have a choice was forced inside. They open one of the blocks and throw her inside. Vriska roughly lands on the floor and before she could get up, the door is already slammed shut behind her. She sits up and notices that there is nothing in the block that she is in. The wooden floor is dirty and the paint on the walls are peeling. The only thing of interest is a tiny window across the door. 

 

With a hard swallow Vriska brings her knees up to her chest and clutches her pants. She is terrified.

(MUTINY)

Terezi moves quietly in the town. Not only is she avoiding the trolls that took Vriska but now she making sure that none of Mindfang’s men would see her. The last thing she needs is to be sent back on the ship. So Terezi moves carefully through the town, ducking and diving every once in a while. “I should go where we last were…”, she comments to herself. Yet, it was hard for her to remember where it to. She only ran out of fear earlier and now that she needed detailed memories, it is complicated for her to make sure that she is going the right way. Luckily for her, she is able to recognize key landmarks and eventually found the building she hid in earlier. 

Terezi scans the area to make sure no one sees her and moves to the back of the abandoned store. Terezi looks to the ground and spots footprints. With a wick grin Terezi slowly starts to follow it. The prints are large and there are four of them. The Pyrope can tell which one was Vriska’s just because it was the smallest prints out of the rest. Terezi looks up and notices that the trail leads into the outskirts of town. It does not help her fear, seeing that large vegetation overruns the surrounding area. She knows that she could easily get lost in there and Terezi does her best to ensure that she does not get lost. 

The last thing she needs is Mindfang saving Vriska first and then discovering that Terezi is gone, because she is sure that the pirate would only go out of her way to find her just to beat her for doing something so dangerous. So every once in a while, Terezi would break a branch or two and dragged her feet. With marking on the ground and on the trees, it gives her reassurance that she would not get lost. All she needs to do is follow the path back. She stumbles and dunks under low branches the entire time. After following the hard trail for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a couple of minutes, she starts hearing voices. They are far and faded and unluckily for her, she can not pinpoint where they are coming from. Terezi moves slow in the forest and tries to stay as low to the ground as possible, just incase someone might see her. She walks around in circle for a while and soon the voices get louder. Terezi continues to move towards the voices and soon stops. A few meters in front of her are two trolls. 

They are standing in front of a old hive that looks a bit run down. Terezi feels confident that they can not see her. The nature is overgrown to the point to where it makes it almost impossible to see her and she is glad that the hive sits in the middle of a small empty area. It makes it easier for her to see the place. The trolls that are standing in front of the hive encourage Terezi to circle to the back of the hive in an attempt to avoid confrontation. With little effort she sprints to the hive, stopping next to the back door. To her luck, when she pulls the door, it is unlock. Terezi pokes her head inside. Even though it is an amiture move, no one sees her. It is silent inside. The only thing Terezi can hear is the distant chatter from the trolls outside but they seem unaware of her presence. She calmly walks quietly into an open room and there is only table and a couple of chairs in there. 

There is a lot of cegers on the table and Terezi was almost tempted to take some. Yet, she reminds herself that her current goal is to retrieve Vriska and gaining wealth is not her priority list. After all, they are only in this mess due to stealing. So finding that nothing of use was in there, Terezi moves to the room right across it. The door is closed, and with caution, Terezi turns the knob. It opens with no problem and it is just a closet with useless junk inside. There are clothes on the floor as well as hanged. Boxes of random objects litter inside the closet. “Nothing.” Terezi quietly closes the door and moves to the door next to her. She reaches for the doorknob and to her disappointment, it is lock. She huffs angrily. “Come on…open...”

Sudden footsteps catch her off guard along with the sudden slam of the front hive door. Terezi let’s out a gasp and moves quickly into the closet. She closes the door gently and pushes herself in the corner of the closet. There is no where to hide in there and she knows that if it opens, she will be seen. Her blood pusher starts to pick up speed along with her breathing. Yet, she holds her breath as soon as the footsteps are slowly going through the hive. The steps are long and heavy, and the closer they get the more nervous Terezi gets. 

She is glad that she is sitting in the corner because she can feel her legs starting to shake more when the troll starts passing right in front of the closet. To her surprise, the troll simply walks right past her hiding spot. She allows her lungs deflate and out of fear decides to sit there for a while longer. Terezi knows that she is in way over her head and now she is partially wishing that she had listened to Mindfang. At least then she would be safe. All Terezi would have to do was wait patiently for Mindfang to come back with Vriska. 

Now here she is, hiding in a closest in enemy territory. God she feels stupid right now. Terezi can already hear Mindfang nagging at her for getting herself into this situation. She does everything in her power to stop herself from hitting her head against the wall. Yet, by then the unknown troll had already past by, not knowing of the intruder. Terezi can tell that the troll stopped walking and is standing near the locked door. Keys can be heard and Terezi is grateful for her sharp ears. She can hear the key pushing into the lock and a click can be heard in the dead silent closet. Terezi presses her face against the wall in hopes to hear anything abnormal in the block next to her. The door opens loudly with a harsh creaking noise to where anyone would hear it. There is silence for a moment.

Until Terezi can hear the troll shouting, “Where did that blue wiggler go?!”

(MUTINY)

Vriska is lost. She has no clue where she is at but she know that she is not staying in one spot for long. It won’t be long before those trolls find out she is missing. Actually, Vriska hopes that they never find out about her disappearance or just simply think that she is not worth the trouble of chasing down. After all, it was easy for her it escape on her own. The idiot trolls some how forgot to lock the window and with much pulling, Vriska was able get it open. Yes it was loud but no one surprisingly checked up on the noise, or maybe no one was there at the time.

Regardless, Vriska saw her chance to get out and she took it. She remembers tumbling to the ground ungracefully and nearly landing on her face. Yet, Vriska quickly dusted herself off and ran straight into the forest. She did not care where she was going, all she cared about was getting far away from that hive as possible. So she ran and ran, and even though she was worried about getting caught again, there was a grin on her face. Yes, she could proudly say that she saved herself and did not need anyone's help. Mindfang will be proud of her bravery for not only saving Terezi but also escaping the clutches of those who dare tried to contain her. This will be a story she will brag about for a long time. 

First though, Vriska needs to find her way back to the town she was originally in. Which is not going well at all. Due to her blind running, she has no idea where she is going or if she is even going in the right direction. “Where am I”, she questions herself as she starts to slow down her running. By now she feels that she already far enough from her capture’s. “Helloooooooo?! Anyone out here?! I'm kinda lost….” There is no response other than the natural sounds of nature and Vriska scratches her head. “Where do i go...?” Vriska slowly looks at her surroundings as she continues to walk straight. She swallows her saliva. “Hello?! Anyone out here?” Vriska continues to unwisely shout in hopes that someone would find her. Yet, as time passes Vriska starts to fear that she had went the wrong way. By now she is hungry and her mouth could be compared to sandpaper right now. A couple slips and falls made her clothes dirty and she feel like complete trash by now.

Yet, Vriska knows that she can not stop moving forward and eventually she hears the rushing sound of water running. Vriska starts walking a bit faster in that direction and comes across a small stream. She would have shoved her face in the water if Mindfang did not teach about the importance of filtering water. Which was only a conversation that got brought up when Terezi unknowingly drank dirty water and had gotten sick from it.

So with all her strength, she forces her body to not consume the water, even though it looks clean to her, and instead decides to follow the stream. She was told many times that stream usually leads to other trolls, and to her shock, when she starts following it, there is smoke further down the stream. Excitement fills her at the thought of getting help and Vriska starts to run in the direction of the small smoke. “Hey! Is anyone here?! I need help!” Vriska shouts and runs loudly in the direction of possible trolls. The closer she gets, the more she notices a small circular camp and to her relief, trolls.

Yet they are caught off guard by the sudden noises and visitor. They stand up quickly and stare in her direction.

“Who’s there?” A male troll calls out. Vriska stops at the edge of the camp and she starts to notice that there are some trolls there that are in her age group. “Uh...I'm lost. I need help.” The troll is tall compared to Vriska but not that tall as other trolls she has met. There is stubble on his chin and his hair is messy. His horns are almost hidden in his hair, and his entire demeanor is friendly and welcoming. 

“Oh! Really now? Come! Come. Here let me get you something to drink.” Vriska is gestured into the center of the small camp and is offered a seat on the floor near a small fire. There are couple of trolls to the point to where it is hard for Vriska to keep track of how many of them there are. Yet, they all look nice and the trolls around her age watch from the distance, cautiously. They almost looked scared of her but at the same time amazed mixed with curiosity. 

Once she is resting on the floor a tall jade blood takes a seat next to Vriska and she is almost nervous to be around so many trolls she does not know. However, the vibes they give off calm her and the unknown troll walks back to her with a small tin cup with water in it. Vriska takes it without thinking and chugs it down. Other trolls start to move in to see who the new guest was and that is when Vriska notices a yellow and green blooded troll. They slowly start to make their way to the fire but the trolls her age seem to not want to get closer. Soon the troll that offered her water takes a seat across from Vriska and points to himself. “I hope we would be able to assist you in finding your way back of which you came from. I know that it can be a bit scary being out here all alone. What is your name, little one? I am the Signless and these are my followers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MUTINY)  
> Be sure to leave a comment! I hope everyone enjoys this story and I hope to make some interesting progress as time goes on. Every bit of encouragement helps me write faster. However, i am dealing with long term medical issues at the moment and therefore at times the story may slow down. Yet, I shall do my best to keep up with updates and remember that you guys are the real backbone of this story. Thank you to everyone who has read/bookmarked/or left a kudo!


	4. Ingeminate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska are separated. Both getting two different experiences from the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not as much as my other chapters but I just wanted to get another chapter up already. I am very glad of all the support you guys have been giving me and I would like to thank everyone that encourage me and left me nice messages and kudos. The next chapter will be us moving along with the plot and I hope to really keep you guys entertained. My writing may slow down due to the fact that I have been doing a really long roleplay with someone. I am tempted to take a lot of the elements from it and apply into another fanfiction, because the prompt was something that I have been wanting to write about for a long time but never had the motivation to do it. However, now that it is being played out, I feel like I can now be able to write it. So with that being said, expect another Homestuck fanfiction to be posted up after a few more chapters of this story!
> 
> HEAR MUSIC THAT GOES WITH THIS CHAPTER: [ Click Here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VztgtK-0Keo)

Terezi gets caught off guard by the trolls comment. Does this mean that Vriska was no longer within the hive? Did her friend manage to escape? If that is the case then Terezi knows that she is in deep trouble. They would surely be trying to now be searching for Vriska and Terezi was in the center of this evil operation. She let’s a huff. Now Terezi wishes that she could time travel and prevent herself from ever leaving the ship. Yet, now she is stuck in a dark closet and Terezi is ready to pound her head on against the wall within the closet. Before she could continue on with the self hatred, the door slams open and the hallway light is brighter than how Terezi last remembered.

“Looky here! It’s that teal blood from earlier.” A strong hand grabs the hood of Terezi’s cape and the tug is so rough that it almost makes her choke. “Stop!” Terezi is more confused than scared but when she is dragged outside of the closet, she realizes how much trouble she is in. She can not even get to her feet due to the constant tugging and pulling. She hears several laughs from two trolls, and the one holding her purposely keeps pulling on her hood. 

“Damn. She is a shade lower than the last one. That’s going to cost us.” Terezi is disoriented due to the constant pulling of her hood, which is already making her dizzy as she tries to get to her feet. Yet, she is still able to tell that there is only two trolls there. She can only assume that they were the ones from outside. “Yeah, she is a little short and skinny too. Not a lot of trolls will want to buy this wiggler. At least the last one look handy.” Terezi forces herself to get to her feet and she starts to dig her nails into the troll’s arm. He laughs at her attempt of trying to escape. “Well, since the blue blood is gone let’s just sell this one. We will at least get some profit out of her.” 

The other troll gives out his suggestion. “Exactly what I was thinking! Let’s go. They will be taking off soon.” Terezi starts to get dragged and that is when her fear spikes up again. She keeps trying to pull away but the second troll is behind her, pushing her forward. “Get moving!” Terezi unwillingly follows and stumbles outside of the hive. She is already too tired and hungry to struggle any longer. After all, she has been running around all night with little to no food in her system. It also did not help that food was always rationed on the ship and that means that she automatically does not eat a lot. Her chest is starting to hurt and Terezi is confident that they are not going to catch a ride. Once they continue to walk right into the forest, Terezi knows that she will not be able to psychically keep going. They do not go far before Terezi stumbles to the ground and refused to get up. “Get up!” Yet, Terezi can not make herself move and just stays there. The other troll gets annoyed and unnecessarily kicks her in the chin. 

The impact makes her cry out in pain. She clutches her face and wants to start crying. Her tongue moves over the area where her teeth had been impacted. All of her teeth are amazingly in place still but there is a bit of blood coming from the inside of her mouth. Yet before she could move, they once again start dragging her by her hood and she is unable to get to her feet. The pulling of the cape chokes her and every pull makes her light headed and unforchantly for her, she slowly starts to close her eyes due to the lack of oxygen. Even though rocks and branches scratch her, it does not stop her from losing consciousness. 

(MUTINY)

“So tell me Vriska, what brings you out here all alone?” The Signless questions her as he watches her drinking her third cup of water. By now all the adults have already surrounded her. They sit far enough as to not hover over her and the trolls her age were sent off into their tents as to ‘not scare her’, as the older trolls claimed. Yet, Vriska does not feel that these trolls are a threat and might be her ticket out of here.

“Some trolls tried to sell me to the slaver’s market,” Vriska states casually as if it was something that she was used to. The troll that called himself the Signless frowns. The yellow blood showed signs of anger while the olive blood gasps and brings her hands to cover her mouth. Finally, the Jade blood shakes her head in disappointment. Vriska can feel the negative vibe in the air and soon the Signless speaks up again. “I am sorry to hear that. You must have been scared...but why would they go after you? According to what you are wearing, you are a Cobalt blood. You are not really low on the hemospectrum.” He points to her sign and Vriska shrugs it off. “Yeah, well. They couldn't handle me. They only tried to get me because I tried stealing.” By now, the water she was drinking was gone and Vriska places it on the floor. “Why did you steal,” the Jade blood asked. 

“Because I wanted to.” Vriska replies bluntly and gains a few disapproving looks. “You shouldn't take what’s not yours.” The Signless comments and it reminds Vriska of the conversation that Mindfang and her had. Vriska is starting to think that she would probably start listening more often….but that would not be fun. Yet being the troll that she is, Vriska learned to just go along with things. “It won’t happen again.” She lies through her teeth. Next time she just won’t get caught. “Well, that’s good to hear. Would you like something to eat? We don’t have much but we have enough to spare.” Vriska eagerly nods her head. “Yeah. I’m starving. I have not eaten all night.” The Signless turned to the olive blood. “Could you fetch her something to eat?” She smiled with the response, “Of course, love! I think we should all eat actually.” She gets up and makes her way to one of the tents. “I think formal introductions are needed.” The Signless stands up. “You already know that I am the Signless.”

He then points to the jade blood. “This is my mother. She goes by Dolorosa.” She gives Vriska a friendly smile and Vriska just gives her a quick nod. “This is my good friend, the Psiioniic.” The yellow blood does a quick wave and that is when the olive blood arrives back with food in her hands. “And this is lovely lady is my matesprit, the Disciple.” He helps remove the food from her hands as she responded with a, “Hello there, little one!” Vriska noticed that they are carrying a lot of food, and of different varieties. There are a lot of grubloaves and a few meats that Vriska has never seen before. Then there are a few berries along with other nature grown food. “I thought that we should all eat it. Sun will be up in a couple of hours.” The Signless nods his head. “I will call the young ones. I am sure they are curious of our new guest.” With that, he gets up and heads to the tents. All the other older trolls get up and start preparing the food as Vriska watches. 

(MUTINY)

When Terezi wakes up, she realized how terrible she feels. Her face hurts and she is already starting to experience hunger pain. Yet she is confused as to why her wrists are hurting and once her looks down her noticed that they are chained together. Panic sets in and Terezi tries to pull them apart, even though it is impossible. Terezi looks up and that is when she realized that she is back near the docks but this time she chained to a large pole and there are other trolls that happen to be in the same position as her. There are three more trolls connected the same pole as her and the other poles are only about three three feet away each other, scattered in a rough circle. Yet, Terezi is not the youngest there. There some that can barely walk and are still chained up. She was the only one properly clothed and everyone else looks to be in rags. A few of the adults glance her way once they noticed that she had awaken. Yet, no one says anything. There is an odd silence among the trolls and Terezi is confused as what is happening. “What’s going on?” 

One of the trolls attached to the same pole as her gives her a sad look. His face shows age and Terezi can tell by looking at his eyes that he is a brown blood. “They plan on throwing us on a ship and take us to some other land where they will sell us. This is the slave market.” He voice is rough and dried out, and Terezi is sure that the troll probably had not had anything to drink in a long time. His words start to sink in and she starts looking around for any sign of hope. She does her best to keep calm but once she sees a few trolls standing close by with whips and swords, Terezi starts to think that hope is lost.

“I don’t belong here,” She mumbles to herself. Another troll next to her gives out a huff. “Yeah. None of us do.” Terezi takes in with what he says. She had always seen slaves before, mostly on Mindfang’s ship. They always looked miserable and sick. Yet Mindfang had told them that some trolls are hatched to serve and other are hatched to lead. She explained that very few trolls can break that rule and when they do, they tend to accomplish amazing things. So, Terezi never really thought about the hardships that slaves had to go through and now that she is on the brink of being sold as one, it scared her. For the first time, she finally understood the seriousness of slavery and nothing has yet to even happen to her. Yet, Terezi has seen how they have been treated and dreads the thought of the abuse happening to her. 

She knows that there is nothing she can do though. The chains are too tight and the guards are constantly walking around them, watching every move that they make. A few trolls walk by. They have smiles on their face and laugh at their own jokes, ignoring the group of trolls that are doomed to servitude. Terezi found it ironic considering the fact that she had down the same thing plenty of times before. “Please! Help!” She cried out to anyone who could hear her. The other captured trolls don’t say anything and many of them just stared at the ground. The passing trolls just glance her way but continued to walk, not caring of about her predicament. The only attention she got was from one of the slavers. One walks straight to her with a whip in hand and Terezi realized that she should have just stayed quiet. The troll does not say anything to her right away but instead, raised the whip high. 

It came down fast on her, hitting her across the left side of her face. “Ah!” She cried out and tucks her head behind her arms. Yet, the hits still come. Terezi curls into a ball in a desperate attempt to block the blows. The whip cuts through her dragon cape and she starts to cry. The troll does not hold back on each hit and soon Terezi can feel her blood starting to spill on the ground. “Stop! Please! Stop!” Terezi tried to move away but is stuck because of the chains. Luckily after the tenth hit, he stopped whipping her but still hovered over her with the whip still raised. 

“Don’t talk!” He yells to her. Terezi cowers before him but out of the corner of her eyes she can see someone. About five meters away, stands Mindfang, watching. Terezi sees that she is standing by herself and there is a grin on the pirate’s face. “Mindfang!” Terezi cried out to her but Mindfang continued to stare at her. 

The troll raised the whip again and Terezi quickly gains the fear of getting hit again. She held her breath and the whip came down again. Yet, Terezi continued to call for her Captain but Mindfang simply took her time strolling up to them. The pain was unbearable for Terezi as her tears started mixing in with her blood. Her skin starts to tear in different areas especially in her arms and back. Mindfang stands near the male troll. Her hand loosely holding to her sword but she makes no move to stop the assault. “Well, what is going on here?” 

The male troll looked to Mindfang, not knowing who she was. “This wiggler does not know how to listen but we will get her behaving before someone buys this little shit.” Terezi was still crying and Mindfang pointed to her. “That little shit belongs to me.” Mindfang shows off her sword, meaning that she was not playing around. “Give her back to me or we are going to have a problem.” He scoffs. “You have no proof.” As soon as he said that, Mindfang drew her sword. The blade is held close to the man’s neck. “I own her. So give her back.” Her words come out venomously and she gives him a stare down. He is unable to do anything and just slowly nods her head. “Ok...Ok...take her. Just take her then.” He reaches into his pocket and pulled out a key. “You unlock her.” Mindfang gives the command as she holds onto the sword as the male troll quickly unshackled her. Terezi can feel everyone watching her. The other soon to be slaves watch the scene unfold, probably wishing to be released as well. 

Terezi starts shaking as the chains fall off. She is doing her best to stand up. “Let’s go Terezi.” Mindfang sheaths her blade and walks away. Terezi clings to Mindfang before the Captain shoves her away as they get away from them. “I told you to stay on the ship.” Mindfang scolds and Terezi follows her closely in fear. 

“Sorry, Captain.” Mindfang walks Terezi back to the ship and a few crew members give them a sorrowful glance. “Saw what happened back there? If I was not closed by, you would have gotten sold off to some sea dweller as a fuck toy. And that whipping...ha! He was an amiture. I would have beat you twice as hard and longer. So if you think that hurt, you have not seen nothing yet.” Terezi avoids eye contact. “Sorry Captain.” Terezi had already learned to just go along with Mindfang and to not argue with her. It is best to always just agree and save herself from anymore pain. “You should be. I wasted time looking for Vriska to bail you out of trouble. I should have just left you there.” 

Terezi does not say anything as Mindfang guides her to the shared block between her and Vriska. “Stay in here this time. When I get back back you are really going to get hit!” Mindfang shoves Terezi into the block and slams the door shut before her. Terezi some how only stumbled and prevented herself from falling over completely. She slowly removes her cape, which was covered in her blood, and tosses it to the ground. There is blood all over her. Cuts and bruises scatter all over body and Terezi wants to cry but that seems to be what always gets her hurt. So she walks to the pile of dirt clothes and throws herself on top of it. She feels miserable and wants nothing more than for the night to end.

(MUTINY)

Vriska was enjoying herself. The food that was served tasted amazing and was better than the same food she was always eating on the ship. She has never had a large of food offered to her at once and was really excited. The adult trolls allowed the younger trolls to sit around the fire as well as everyone started eating. To Vriska, it was odd to have so many trolls eat together in such a peaceful manner. The adults talked among themselves and the trolls around her age hesitate with talking with her. After a little encouragement from the older trolls, the younger ones tried to converse with Vriska once the Signless introduced his own descendant. She did not mind meeting them but was more interested in eating. “Vriska, this is my descendant, Karkat.” Vriska takes a bite out of her food hardly giving the other troll a glance. He looks tired and looks like her does not really care about her presence. “Hey." He replied quickly, not even glancing her way. Vriska looks up and catches a disapproval look from the Signless but does not say anything about it. The troll called the Disciple turned to her own descendant. “Introduce yourself, kitten.” The younger olive blood turns to Vriska and gives her a genuine smile.”Hi! I am Nepeta. It’s nice to meet you.” It was simple but at the same time was a nice gesture.“ Vriska gave a simple, “Hey.” Vriska’s mouth is full of food so the response came messily. The younger yellow blood was not paying attention and suddenly realized that it was his turn to introduce himself. He was in the middle of eating but placed his food down long enough to acknowledge her. “Sup. I’m Sollux.” He gave a quick wave and went back to eating his food. Vriska squints her eyes slightly. His voice sounded...weird to her and she could not pinpoint what it was. She figured she might have just misheard him. Next to him is a jade blood. In the back of her mind Vriska questioned why there are two jade bloods out of the cavern but does not bring up the subject. Instead Vriska looked at her long enough just for the young jaded troll to introduce herself. “Hello. My name is Kanaya. Nice to meet you.” There is a friendly smile on her face but Vriska ignores it and continued eating. 

She was too hungry and tired to really care about the other trolls. There was small chatter among them but Vriska stayed out of all the talk. She did not want to participate in the conversation because by then she was already getting a headache from everything she has been through. So she eats quietly and whenever she was asked a question she usually answered it with a simple response. “So Vriska,” it was the Dolorosa this time. “Where do you live?” Vriska already knows what to say. Mindfang trained them since they could talk in what to say. Yet, knowing that they were more to walk her back to the dock, Vriska only half lies. “I live on a ship. We transport food.” Vriska takes another bite from her food and she is really impressed with how it tastes. “Oh! That sound adventurous. Where do you travel to?” Vriska is trying not to get annoyed with the sudden questions but at the same time she told herself that she should have seen this coming. “We go everywhere.” They somehow accept the answer and don’t push the questioning. 

After eating, Vriska feels so much better. They started cleaning up the food and putting out the fire. The trolls around Vriska’s age were talking among themselves with a glance at her every once in a while. She knows that they are talking about her but she knows that they probably don’t come in contact with a lot of other trolls. After all, they are in a forest off the edge of the town. “Vriska.” Vriska looked up and it was the Signless troll calling her. She walks up to him. “We have a couple of hours til sunrise. It should be enough time to get you to your ship.” He states. “You are going to take me?” Vriska questions even though she knows the answer. Of course sthey are going to walk her back.

They are the only ones who know how to get back to the town. Vriska did not expect them to just point in a random direction and let her go on her way, though she really would not mind. Mindfang always warned them about leading the wrong trolls to the ship. Vriska knows that everything that they do is not completely legal. In fact, everything that they do is illegal. The last thing wants is for her ancestor to get mad at her for giving their position away. “Of course, we are. We can’t leave you alone. You said it yourself that slavers were after you.” Vriska knows that she can not argue. With a nod of her head, the signless gives her a smile. “Alright then. If you don’t mind, Dolorosa and my Disciple will be going with you to make sure you find your ancestor.” Vriska gives a simple “Okay”, then noticing that the other two trolls were already to take off. They both have backpacks that Vriska supposed that were holding items needed in case of an accident or of an emergency. “Ready to go,” the Dolorosa questioned. Vriska walks up to them and gave a simple, “yeah.”

They travel for maybe an hour and Vriska can tell that the sun will be rising soon. This makes her worry mostly because she does have any form of protection against the sun. Right when she was about to complain about it, the Disciple spoke. “We are almost there! Soon you will be back with your own ancestor.” In the back of Vriska’s mind, she hoped that the olive blood is right. the last thing she wants to be out in the burning sun. Mindfang warned them many times of the dangers of the sun and even threaten to throw the two young trolls outside during daylight if they did not behave. Vriska believed in those words and never did anything to the extent of being sent outside in the light. Yes, she threatened many times with it but always talked her way out of it. Now, Vriska does not know how Mindfang will be when she returns. Will she be happy to see that she is fine? Is she going to get punished? Maybe they will just forget that the whole thing ever happened. If anything, Vriska is sure that she could try her best at being sorry and hope that it is enough to bail her out of trouble. 

However, Vriska figures that she has plenty of time to figure something out. So, they walk through the forest and Vriska is curious as to how they know where they are going. They do not walk on a path and it almost brings doubt to Vriska that they are taking her back to the town she was suppose to go to. The two female trolls carefully guide her through the nature, watching every step that Vriska makes, as if she was a weak wiggler who could not defend herself. Vriska knows that she can not really complain. She just only found it weird on how much they were watching out for her and they did not even know her. It was a nice gesture that Vriska secretly appreciated. Not many trolls went out of their way to make sure that she was fine. Yet here they were, going out of there way to make sure that Vriska was fed and going back to her ship safely. So they travel through the forest and soon the thickness of the trees started to die down. Then the grass was not as high. Next thing Vriska can see is buildings off in the distance. 

A smile forms on her face as she can recognize some of the structures. “Why are you guys in the wild?” Vriska bluntly questioned. It did not make sense to her that they were so close to a town but were not living there, even if it was just sleep there during the day. The two female trolls give a each other a look, wondering how they were going to answer, until the olive blood responded. “It’s nice to get away from the city.” She gives Vriska a smile and the young scorpio accepts the answer. “I suppose we should start heading to the docks then.” The Dolorosa gives Vriska a light tap in the right direction. They move through the outer parts of the town and Vriska is relief when she can see her ship in the distance. 

“That’s it!” Vriska points to it with joy, knowing that she would be safe once she gets on board. “I can walk the rest of the way.” Vriska quickly offered, knowing that Mindfang would be mad at her if she found out that anyone knew that it was used for criminal activity. The two green bloods are caught off guard by the comment. “Are you sure,” the Dolorosa asks. “Yeah. I’m fine.” They hesitate but do not stop Vriska. “Ok. If you are so sure. We will let you be on your way. Just be more careful next.” Vriska nods her head and started walking off in the direction of the ship. She looked back quickly and could see that they are starting to make their way back to which they came from. They were weird trolls. Were all trolls on land this strange?

If that’s the case then, Vriska knows that she prefers to stay on the vast seas. She does not even get to walk a couple of feet before a crew member spots her and runs to her. “Found you! The Captain is mad! Come. Lets get you back to her.” Vriska feels safe knowing that no one can hurt her and as she was guarded going back to the ship. However on the way back, Vriska catches a look at a group of trolls being forced onto another ship. Immediately, she can tell that they are slaves just by what they are wearing and the shackles clinging to their skin. Some of them are crying silently as others held their head low, but Vriska did not care. It was not her problem. 

(MUTINY)

The moment that Vriska step foot on the ship, she felt like the Empress herself. Every available troll rushed to her, asking if she was ok. They glance over her to make sure she did not have any kind of injury. Some rush off to find the Captain as others tried to spread the word to stop searching for her. Right now, Vriska feels pretty important. She guess that is how you are treated if you are related to someone very important, and in this case it was the Captain of the fleet. 

They offer her food and water but Vriska refused and before more attention can be even to her, she can see Mindfang walking up to her from the distance. She let out a nervous breath of air. She knows that she is in trouble and Vriska was already preparing herself from some form of punishment. The rest of the surrounding members can feel the negative vibe and started at slowly move away from Vriska. Giving her and Mindfang alone time. Once Mindfang reaches her, she simply stands over her. Vriska looks up at her ancestor but regretted it quickly. A harsh glare is given to her but nothing is said at first. Vriska knows that Mindfang is thinking long and hard, but of what, she does not know. Vriska tried to break the eye contact but Mindfang roughly grabs Vriska’s chin. 

“You have ten seconds to explain yourself.” Vriska can feel her throat tighten and her mind goes blank. She fumbles to start but a story comes out of her eventually. “Slavers tried to get us! I-I got Terezi away from them. They got me but I got away.” Vriska let the words fumble out. Mindfang stared at her for a while trying to see any lie in her. “You realize that you could be dead by now right or sold off to some rich sea dweller. Trust me, you don't want to be in that position. Go to your block. We will talk more tomorrow. I can’t deal with you right now because if I look at you any longer I think i might beat you into the next sweep.” Mindfang let go of Vriska’s face but let her nails drag against her skin. 

Vriska does not think twice before running off into her shared block. She quickly closed the door behind and rubbed her eyes, tired of everything that happened that night. Vriska only takes two steps before seeing Terezi curled up in a ball on the pile of dirty clothes. That is when Vriska can see little droplets of blood that no doubt belong to the teal blood. “Terezi?” Vriska slowly makes her way to her friend. “You okay?” She moves closer to her and she can see a lot of dried blood covering her. There are lacerations covering her body and and some of the wounds look almost infected. 

Terezi sits up slowly and Vriska does know if she should help her up. There are dried tears on her face and her puffy eyes indicate that she has been crying. “What happen?” Vriska asked but Terezi shoves Vriska. The force makes Vriska land to the wooden floor. “Leave me alone! You always get me in trouble!” She shouts at Vriska. Terezi goes back into laying in her pile, not giving Vriska a second glance. Vriska stays on the floor for a while, staring at Terezi even though her friend is not looking back at her. She quietly picks herself off the floor and sits by Terezi even though she is sure that she want her no where no her. Vriska pulls her head to her knees knowing that once again this was all her fault. 

(MUTINY)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was fun to write. I feel really bad now for what I made these two went through( read: terezi). Still hopefully the next chapter will be a lot more uplifting as to lighten the mood of the story. This story can’t be sad all the time!!! So stick around and see what trouble these two will get into next time!


	5. Five is the Number

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi turns five sweeps! (about 10 years old)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: I'm going through a lot of medical issues and is really slowing my writing down. SO what is going to happen is EITHER one of these two thing. ONE: I could update weekly BUT type up less. This will be anywhere from 2,500-4,000 words per chapter. The SECOND option is basically the opposite. Where you might have to wait TWO WEEKS but get anywhere from 4,000-6,000 words. I can normally type up 5,000 words in a week but I've typing much slower lately, but fear not! This story is still going on! It just may slow down. That is why this chapter took a while. My illness spiked up randomly...soooooooo....HERE I AM! Enjoy this chapter and please leave a comment on suggestions or ideas!(This can be messaged to me personally or left in the comments) I'm going to need some small fillers because right now we are at one of those "calm before the storm" part of the story, but don't worry! The chaos and heartbreak will be back because drama is great! Enjoy.
> 
> HEAR MUSIC THAT GOES WITH THIS CHAPTER: [Click Here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lrU-wfIaIw)

"Terezi...? Wake up…" The voice is annoying to Terezi. It is disturbing her restful sleep in the sopor slime. She does not want to wake up. Not yet at least. "Come oooooooon!" There is a sudden tug on her shoulder. In the far corners of her mind, Terezi wonders who would dare bother her. She is trying to sleep. "You can't sleep all night!" Was that a challenge to Terezi? She is sure that she could if she really tried. After all, she was extremely busy the night before. She was training on swordsmanship and was climbing all the way up to the crow's nest throughout the entire night. So right now Terezi does not want to be bothered. "Are you really going to sleep through your wiggler day?" The comment was a sudden reminder to Terezi. It was her wiggler day and tonight she was turning five sweeps old. Where was the time going?

The reminder is enough to get Terezi to open her eyes. "You're alive!" Vriska exaggerates and Terezi starts to pull herself out of her pod. Slime is covering her completely and like Vriska, she does not really care about leaving a mess behind. "We are going to have fun. Mindfang said that we can both have the night off." Terezi can still hear Vriska talking as she tried to get out of day clothes. She moves around the room to find clothes to wear as Vriska kept rambling on. Vriska was only happy because she was not obligated to do any work too. Terezi knew that she was not really that happy because she was older. She was not stupid. Whenever either of them turned a sweep older, they would get the night off.

Terezi was glad though that someone woke up in a good mood because the moral on the ship has been strangely low lately. Not that Terezi cared about the moral, but it sure was not fun when nobody was interested in playing along in your games. Yet, she suppose that is why Terezi haves Vriska. The other troll keeps her company and tonight, they were going to have fun. "I'm awake. Don't rush me." Terezi mumbled as she tried to put on her pants. She takes one look at Vriska and could see the girl was ready for the night. "Ok. Ready." The two trolls make their way to the door and there are a lot of trolls working on deck already. There is calmness on the ship as it was easy sailing that night and the two young trolls are ready to cause mischief.

Terezi starts walking around on the deck and Vriska follows. Yet, Vriska picks UP SPEED to get in front of Terezi and starts walking backwards. "I have an idea! We should have a sword fight." Vriska gives a suggestion and Terezi thinks about it. A grin lands on her face. "You're on." With that Vriska runs to the side of the center of the ship and there are two wooden swords sitting there. Terezi runs close by to Vriska and somehow beats Vriska to the swords. She picks one up and Vriska soon follows. Some of the crew members glance their way, wondering what they were up to. They both have a sloppy stance but there is determination on both of their faces. Vriska swings her sword first but Terezi jumps back and the Serket misses. This caused Terezi to stick her tongue at the other girl.

Terezi then tries to get close enough to swing but Vriska starts moving around too much for Terezi to keep. Terezi was usually the fast one, but Vriska must have been working on her footing lately. Eventually Vriska gets close enough to where they both start swinging wildly at each other. They manage to be blocking each other's blows. "You will never win!" Vriska shouts as she starts to make the game more fun. "The treasure will be mine!" Terezi manages to tap Vriska on the left arm. "You will never get it." Terezi laughs when she lands a hit on Vriska. She tries to hit her again but Vriska uses her other hand to grab Terezi's sword and pulls it out of the girl's grip. "Got you!"

Terezi yelps and when the sword is out of her hands, she turns around and starts running away from Vriska, screaming. She always hated when Vriska did that. "Get back hereeeeeeee!" Vriska starts to chase Terezi and there is laughter in both of their voices. Terezi quickly makes sharp turns and starts to climb up a couple of nets that got her off the ground. When Vriska gets close enough, Terezi was already five feet off the ground looking down at her friend. "Ha! You can't get me." She sticks her tongue out as she swings slightly on the tight ropes. Vriska puts her sword on the floor and tries to climb up. Her feet and hands clings the ropes but she can not get herself to get off the floor. "Told ya! Vriska is scared of heights! Hahaha! I thought you were a brave pirate," Terezi mocks and Vriska stops trying and huffs. "You are going to have to come down soon." She points out and there is a grin on Vriska's face when Terezi realized that she could not stay up there forever.

"Ahhh! Not fair…" Terezi slowly starts to climb down but stops. "You can't attack me when I get down!" Vriska raises her right hand. "I promise." Even though Terezi knows it is a complete lie, she still goes down. Normally she can go up and down the ropes fast with no problem, but tonight she did not see any reason to rush. That and she was worried that Vriska will try to get her the moment she gets down.

The moment Terezi lands to the ground, Vriska lightly punches her. "I still win. You ran away!" Vriska laughs. "But since it is your wigger day, I guess I could let you live." Vriska mocks and Terezi just shakes her head at her friend. "I could have won if you didn't cheat." Terezi pointed out but Vriska just rolls her eyes and is already started walking away. "Hey! Wait up." Terezi started to run to catch up wit her friend. They leave the swords on the deck not really caring to pick them up. Vriska is sure that some low blood will pick it up later. Right now, they are trying to have a good night and cleaning up is not her problem. "Come on. Let's see what else we can do." Terezi and Vriska started walking around on the ship. They made their way to the lower part of the ship and soon found themselves where a lot of the cargo is always held.

Vriska being the daredevil of the two, started opening up crates. "What are you doing? Mindfang will get mad." Terezi stated, knowing that even though it was her wiggler day, she could still get in trouble. Vriska just rolls her eyes. "She won't know!" She started breaking crates open and they are so big and heavy to where Vriska starts to struggle with it. "Help me out here." She grumbles and Terezi gets to her side. They both grab the lid and heaved the lid up with all their might. The lid is thrown to the side and there is a loud thud from it. Vriska, without hesitation, literally crawled inside the large crate. Terezi tippy toes over the edge to see where her friend disappeared to. "Vriska?" A laughter comes from the depths of the box. The careful packaging inside prevented Vriska from getting hurt but Terezi still had to guess that it did hurt. "What's inside?"

Terezi tried to pull herself inside and soon Vriska reached over and pulled the other girl inside with. She landed right on top of Vriska, which makes Vriska groan slightly in pain at the sudden weight. Terezi laughs as Vriska tries to shove her away but being in an enclosed space made it very hard for her to do so. Instead Terezi felt her face being shoved into the wall of the box. "Hey!"

"You're taking up a lot of space," Vriska complained. Terezi huffs with her still being crushed against the wall. "This was your idea!" Vriska eventually moves enough for Terezi to have room to move. Vriska reaches under and pulls out different kinds of jewelry. Rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Every piece is expensive and are golden. Vriska smiles and started placing some on Terezi. "What are you doing?" Terezi makes a face as Vriska carefully equips as much on her friend. Vriska giggles and puts on some on her. "We are just having fun. Don't worry about it." Vriska brushes Terezi's comment. "You always get me in trouble, and Mindfang never gets mad at you!" Terezi points out.

Vriska gives an exaggerated groan. "Cause I don't get caught." Vriska started to play with the gold on herself making her feel like a queen. She knows that this the closest it will come to feeling like the empress herself. "No. It is because she's your ancestor." Terezi was not stupid. She knew that Vriska was Mindfang's favorite and it made sense. Vriska was her blood. Terezi did not care but whenever something happened, she was the one on the receiving end. That was when she hated being in board the ship. Terezi hated being treated different and knows that it was going to be that way as long as she stayed there, or if she did nothing about it.

"Don't be that way! yeah, she's my ancestor but that does not mean she hates you." Terezi gave Vriska a doubtful look. "I don't know. Mindfang already talks about how you will get your own ship one day." Vriska smiled at the thought and nodded her head. "Sure am! But that does not mean that the Captain does not trust you." Vriska started to climb back out of the box and used Terezi to get over the final edge of the box. With a small huff, Terezi pushed Vriska out the box but struggled to do the same. "I just...I just wished I knew a bit about my ancestor. Like...who was she? What did she do?"

Terezi some how was able to get out the box and jewelry landed everywhere and Vriska started picking some up and throwing it back in the box. Terezi started removing the ones that Vriska had placed on her. "Why don't you ask the Captain then? But are you really going to ask her on your wiggler day? Why tonight? You are going to kill the fun!" Vriska let out a fake sigh as she too started taking off the gold and putting it back in the box as well. "I guess you are right." Vriska puffed out her chest with a smirk on her face.

"Of course I am right! I'm a Serket." Both then lift up the lid and throw it back onto of the crate when everything was put back inside. They grunted as they tried to get the lid on top and they somehow managed to succeed and it slammed loudly when it is placed perfectly back on it's proper spot. They have no means of sealing the box but they wouldn't do that even if they had the means to do so. Vriska nodded her head approvingly at the work. "Cool. I guess we know what is in there now."

Terezi stood next to her friend and stared at it. "Yeah. Why do even have that? Don't we need other stuff? Like food." Vriska turns to Terezi in disbelief. "We have a lot of that. We need more fun stuff." Terezi groaned at the comment. "That was so stupid and I am not shock that you said it." Vriska took a moment to realize what Terezi said and let out an exaggerated sigh. "You are just no fun. You are soooooooo boring! You need to have more fun. Come on! I got you something that will make you more fun." Terezi was grabbed by Vriska. "It's back in our block." Before she could protest Terezi was being dragged by her friend as they made their way out back on deck, not wanting to go through the lower part of the ship. "What? What is it?" Vriska shook her head. "You'll see. You'll see. Don't rush life Terezi!" She kept pulling the troll until they arrived to their shared block.

Vriska ran straight to her side of the room, into her toy treasure chest and started scavenging through it. Terezi walked close behind her and tried to look at what the Serket was looking for. Yet, Vriska hovered completely over it and unintentionally blocked Terezi's view. In seconds, Vriska pulled a box out. A nicely wrapped gift. The wrapping paper was teal with a simple black bow on top. It was very nice and Terezi was honestly impressed with the gift. She was not even expecting to get anything that night. They had not been on land for a long time to where Terezi lost track of how long they have been at sea.

The last time they docked, Vriska and Terezi were completely banned from getting off due to the last incident. So it made Terezi wonder how Vriska got her something. Yet, she is sure that she will never know as the gift was gently handed to her. "Here. It's for you. It's not much but I hope you like it." Vriska glanced away to the floor as Terezi accepted the gift. She felt her hands cling to the box has joy ran through Terezi. This little surprise was nice and really unexpected. "Wow! Thanks Vriska. What is it?" She tried to get an idea by feeling the weight of the box.

Vriska returned a face back to Terezi. "Open it and you will see."

With a nod of her head, Terezi started opening the gift. She slowly started removing the wrapping paper. She would not be surprise if the box was empty in a pathetic attempt to get her hopes up, which was what Vriska did last sweep as a joke. The odds of that occurring again was low due to Vriska never trying the same trick twice. So she pushed the thought aside and started to open up the box. Vriska waited patiently for a reaction and soon she got one. Terezi smiled and pulled out a toy. Yet, this toy was interesting. It was red dragon wings. Something that Terezi could wear. "Wow...cool."

Vriska smirk, liking Terezi's reaction. "Put it on!" She encouraged. It was good to see Terezi happy for once. The girl was often earning the bad end of things. A change is desperately needed, and by the looks of it, Terezi was overjoyed with the gift.

She eagerly placed the wings on her and smiled proudly. "How do I look?"

Vriska gave her a thumbs up. "Like a dragon." This made Terezi jump up for joy. "Yes! This is cool!" The red toy wings spread out, almost matching Terezi's arm length. It made Terezi look a little bit bigger and almost reminded Vriska of an actual dragon. Not that she even seen one. Actually, Vriska was sure that dragons do not even exist. She had never seen one and Mindfang had always told Terezi that they were not real. Terezi would never believe it. Instead, Terezi would insist that were real and Mindfang would let out a heavy sigh and shake her head. So, Mindfang may not be as excited when she see that Vriska was encouraging Terezi's fantasies. Yet, Mindfang never really carried too much about Terezi's unusual obsession, and never did anything to really stop it. She just figured that Terezi would grow out of it.

"I knew you would like." Vriska smiled at Terezi's reaction. The other girl a was already SPINNING around as if she was trying to look at it from a different angle but was unable to do so. "Thanks, Vriska! Wow, this is so cool." Terezi soon stopped spinning around. "Yeah well, we are the Scourge Sisters. I got your back Terezi." Terezi glanced at the toy dragon wings still on her."Tell me about it." Vriska laughs at her comment and throws her arm around Terezi, trying not to bump into Terezi's gift. "Come on. There's more!" Vriska started pulling Terezi out the door with her arm still around her. "More?" Terezi thought that this would be it. There was not a lot they could do when they were out in there sea. So she was not expecting anything else. "Yeah, there's more."

Terezi followed Vriska out the block. They ventured to the other side of the ship, and Terezi had an idea where they were going. The only thing in the direction they were heading was Mindfang's cabinet. She was wondering why they were going there as Terezi thought there was no real reason to go over there. So as they walked over there, Terezi kept questioning was to why they were heading there. Yet, Vriska would not tell her anything and Terezi starts to worry that they will find themselves in trouble. Well….Terezi worried that she was going to get in trouble. Vriska somehow always knows how to dodge that bullet.

Luckily for her, it did not take long before they arrive to Mindfang's cabinet. Vriska knocked on the door. "Enter!" Vriska pushes the door open. Terezi assumes that Mindfang was too lazy to get up and welcome them in person, but was not offended by it. Instead, Terezi follows Vriska inside and it looks no different than how it normally looks. The only difference was that there was more food on the table than normal.

Mindfang is sitting on one of the chairs in the room, writing. As Terezi got closer she could see maps and documents sitting in front of Mindfang. All while, the food was placed in the center of the table. It looks fresh. In fact, some of the food was still steaming due to it being freshly made. Seeing food like that is rare when living on a ship. Terezi knew that on special occasions Mindfang would stock up and then serve it when ordered. So what made this night special? Nothing really. It was only Terezi's wiggler day. She never had anything really done for her. The most she would normally get was a pat on the back along with a congratulations on not being dead. So when Mindfang told them to sit and start EATING, Terezi was even more confused. She sits down though and Vriska does not hesitate to sit down as well. They both sit there waiting for Mindfang to say something.

The pirate stayed silent for a moment as she was writing numbers down on paper. She caught the silence and looks up at the two young trolls. "Go ahead and eat." Mindfang puts down her pen and points to the food. "Think of this as a gift from me to you." She glances at Vriska. "Of course we all get indulged in the benefit of you turning five. So eat." Vriska did not hesitate to start picking foods she wanted and Terezi soon followed. The food was amazing compared to what she was used to EATING and there was a comforting silence as all three trolls ate in peace. Mindfang had helped herself to some kind of soup while Vriska was grabbing all the meat she should get. Vriska gladly ate all she could and a few minutes of eating, Mindfang had told her to slow down or she was going to choke and die. So this forced Vriska to slow down as Terezi kept munching on a little bit of everything. Most of the food after all, were dishes that Terezi never had the pleasure of eating before. So she wanted to take every chance and try out everything that was in her reach.

"What do you say when someone gives you something, Terezi?" Mindfang questions as she slowed down eating her soup. Terezi looked up at Mindfang. "Thank you, Captain." She gave the right answer almost leaving out the Captain part again. Something she would never get used to. Mindfang nodded her head and turned to Vriska. "And you, Vriska?" The other girl still had food in her mouth and a slurred "Thank you, Captain." was repeated from her.

Yet, Vriska continued eating as Terezi slowed down. It was weird being treated but Terezi actually liked it. "Good to see you both have your manners still among you. So Terezi...do you like being 5 sweeps?" Terezi gave a simple, "Yes, Captain." Mindfang gave an approving nod. Sometimes Terezi thinks that Mindfang only asks her questions just to raise her own ego. Mindfang always loved hearing Terezi calling her Captain. She was never sure why though. Maybe Terezi was just her imagination.

"That's is good to hear. Most trolls your age don't have nearly as many adventures as you." Mindfang commented and pour herself a drink. Terezi was sure it alcohol but did not really care. "I know, Captain." She answered monotone. Terezi just wanted to eat right now like Vriska. The other young one was too busy shoving food in her mouth to care about the conversation. She wished Vriska would start talking as to get the attention off of her. Terezi was never fond of having unnecessary conversations with Mindfang. Not that she hated the pirate but...there was something that Terezi did not like. She had addressed her concern the Vriska but she would laugh at her and tell her that she was just jealous. Maybe Terezi was upset that she did not know her own ancestor.

"This is good!" Vriska commented and kept EATING. Mindfang glanced up at Vriska. "Slow down, Vriska. You are going to choke and die at this rate." Terezi shook her head at Vriska's antics. Vriska just shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, Captain." There was almost disappointment in her voice as she ate a bit slower. "Good. Now onto business." Great. There was a reason she was being nice. "There is news that someone is not...happy with our line of work. Therefore the Navy will be stopping by for a lovely visit soon. They will be no trouble. I find it very displeasing that you two might be caught in the crossfire of things. Therefore when we dock next time, you two will be temporarily be removed from the ship for a few days." Vriska groaned loudly. "What?! Noooooooo! That's not fair. We should stay and fight!" Terezi gave Vriska a glare. "Vriska, I can promise that the Navy will butcher you before you can grab a sword," Mindfang said as she kept eating. "You are no where near to being in an actual fight. You will get your day. I can promise you that much, but until then…."

She stood up and walked to her desk. She opened up a drawer and Terezi wondered what she was doing. Mindfang pulled something out of it and was gently holding onto the mysterious object. "Here you go Terezi. I've noticed your fondness of the color red. I find it highly appropriate to give this to you." Terezi extended her hand as Mindfang placed the object in her hand. A pair of red glasses. That was new…"Uh. Thank you, Captain." Terezi said, wondering why she would give this to her. The shades were oddly shaped and it seemed so random. Was it just a stolen item that Mindfang was giving to her just because. "Your welcome dear. Take good care of them. They are to die for after all." There was a slight grin on her face that Terezi did not understand and just shrugged her shoulders and put them on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They really were to die for. So anyways… this is not as long as the others but I needed to update and have a cool down moment with these two. I am currently working on another Scourge Sisters story and I think it will be WAY better than this one. Still I am having fun with this fanfiction and hope to keep people interested. I don't want to say much on the new fanfiction other than the fact that it will be humanstuck and have a lot of rare pairs and shocking plot twists. Even I am amazed. So! I don't know when I will get it up. I do have a few pages of it done but I am trying to focus on this one first.


	6. Repent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska haves a quick flashback as they make it on land while Mindfang goes off to fight the Navy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter to get it posted on time. Please leave a comment and/or Kudo along with any ideas! Thank you and enjoy.

Terezi sat on the pile of the clothes as she played with her Scalemate. It took her forever to get that toy back after that whole incident on land happened. She was a bit bitter about it and Terezi was not sure if she would ever get over it. She luckily did get it back and held a grudge towards Vriska for a long time. Terezi was sure she did not talk to her for days. After constant apologies, Terezi gave in and gave the Serket attention again. After that, Terezi started to be more careful and with her being five now, she was just trying her best to survive on the open seas. So Terezi relaxed as Vriska was laying on the only bed in the room. 

They had gotten last sweep because Vriska would complain about wanting to sleep in Terezi’s pile and refused to share. Because Mindfang did not want to hear it anymore, she just got it for them to fight to the death over who was going to use it. Yet, that never happened. Terezi never seemed interested and Vriska only used it every once in a while. Vriska only used it when she was not interest in sleeping in her pod. 

“I’m bored!” Vriska complained as she lay on the bed with her face shoved into a pillow. “We are almost on land.” Terezi respond. She really did not want to hear her complain at the moment. It was bad enough that they were going to be forced off the ship but they were going to be shoved with some random crew members. “Noooooooo!” I want to stay on the ship.” Terezi raised an eyebrow at that comment. “Why? There’s is nothing to do here.” This made Vriska groan even more. “Better than being on land….” Terezi threw her hands up in disbelief. ”What?! How? Land has trees and...fields. They have a lot.” She tried to explain but realized that she did not know a lot about what it was like to live on land. “Wow Pyrope! That’s soooooooo lame.” 

“Pyrope? You never use my last name before…” This was new to Terezi’s ears. Vriska would always call her by her first name. So this was actually unexpected. “I heard the Captain call you that sometimes.” Vriska told her as she sat up on the bed and jumped off of it. “Really...? She never calls me that.” Terezi informed Vriska was the other girl got close to her. “Not to your face, but sometimes she calls you that when you are not around sometimes. Why do you care? It’s your name.” Vriska pointed out and Terezi knew it was true. Perhaps she overthinking it. Mindfang calling her Pyrope was not a big deal, but now she was just going to hear Vriska call her that. The younger Serket always did copy Mindfang in any way she could and that including her developing attitude. 

Terezi cared for Vriska but being surrounded by two Serkets was driving Terezi crazy. Sometimes Terezi felt the need hide in the dark corners of the ship and stay in there for hours just to get their voices out of her head. “Whatever. I am going to the deck,” Terezi informed Vriska as she got off her pile. “What? You are not going to stay with me?” Vriska started following the Pyrope but Terezi rolled her eyes at Vriska’s comment. “Then come.” The girls entered out on deck. It was packed with the crew working hard to get ready to dock as Terezi could see Mindfang talking with her first mate. They were probably talking about finances and estimating their wealth. 

“Look Vriska! We are docking.” Terezi poked Vriska eagerly. Vriska groaned sadly, not wanting to leave the ship. “This is going to suck.” Terezi laughed at Vriska and ran to the edge of the ship. She leaned almost on the side of the ship until one crew member told to get away from there or else she would fall into the water. Not wanting that to happen Terezi pulled away but still stood close by. Vriska sees it all happens and rolls her eyes at Terezi. “Only Terezi…”

“Vriska! Get over here!” She turned around as she heard Mindfang called her and started making her way to her. “Yeah, Captain?” Vriska asked when she got close to her. “It is yes to me Vriska. I could care less if you use it with anyone else, but with me it is yes. Now back to why I called you, dear. There will be three crew members with you while you are on land. Do what they tell you while we are gone.” Mindfang explained as Vriska could hear the crew shouting out commands, getting things ready to dock. 

“Do we really have to stay on land?” Vriska knew that Mindfang did not like it when she would whine, but that was the last place she wanted to be. “It will only be for a few nights. The most would be ten days. You will survive. You are a Serket after all. Just watch after Terezi. Don't want her getting killed or in trouble, no? This time will not be able to come in and save either of you. Think of this as a test to becoming one step closer to being a real pirate. How does that sound?” Vriska’s eyes open up wide. “Yes! I won’t let you down!” Mindfang already knows how to convince Vriska into doing what she wants. She was not too different from her when she was her age...and that concerned her….because Mindfang would admit that she was quite the wild troll growing up. She never listened to anyone and ran things her way. That was how she got far in life. She grabbed life by the neck and did things her way! 

Yes, she wants Vriska to be strong and independent, but she needed to be reassured that Vriska knew where her place was. Which was under Mindfang. She could be higher and more important than any other troll, but when it comes to who gave the final orders, Mindfang needed to make sure that Vriska would listen would commanded. Hence why from an early age on, Mindfang trained both girls to be respectful to her. Not letting them call her anything other than Captain. Vriska shocking took to the habit but Terezi took longer than expected. It took a couple of warnings, and soon a few spankings, to get Terezi to keep the habit up. Pyropes. They were all stubborn. Even if someone like Terezi, who was not aware of it, still carried the same trait even though she never had long contact with Redglare. 

“That’s a good girl. Now get your things ready. It will be long before you two embark on your own adventure.” Mindfang waved her off. “Make sure the Pyrope is ready as well. Though I am sure she was ready hours ago.” Even Mindfang is aware of Terezi distaste to the open waters. Not that she cares but Mindfang has an eye for spotting unmotivated trolls on her ship. Still Terezi always carried her load and never verbally complained in front of Mindfang. Therefore, everything worked out for the Captain.

With permission to dismiss, Vriska ran off back into her block while Terezi remained on deck. All she needed was a few basic items. So Vriska shoved everything she needed into her black backpack and saw Terezi’s sitting in the corner. Terezi’s red backpack was already packed nights ago. All Vriska had to do was grab it. Yet out of curiosity, Vriska opened up Terezi’s bag and glanced through her things. There was nothing interesting in there. It was just filled with clothes and Vriska picked up Terezi’s scalemate and shoved it inside the teal blood’s bag. Vriska would never hear the end of it if Terezi found out that she forgot her scalemate back on the ship. So Vriska was going to take care of that problem before it got to that point.

Once she was done with that, Vriska dragged Terezi’s bag and started making her way back out on deck. By the time she got back outside, the ship had already docked. Terezi was running around in a circle for some reason that made Vriska roll her eyes. Something was wrong with that girl. That was Mindfang would always say and Vriska was starting to see it. Terezi is an oddball. Not in a bad way but Terezi could be….different. 

She acts different from most of the crew but most would assume it was just because of age difference and that would make sense if Vriska acted similar to Terezi and even though they have a lot in common, there was still major differences in their personalities. Still, they got along great as they influence each other. Vriska just hopes that Terezi does not rub her weirdness on her. “Terezi! Here!” Vriska held the red backpack high and tosses it to Terezi. The other girl stops quickly and reacted fast enough to catch it. Terezi let out a grunt when it lands in her arms for it was still heavy. “Gee, thanks.” There was some honesty in her voice as Terezi threw on her backpack.

“Isn't this great, Vriska! We got to go on an adventure on land!” Terezi did a weird jump where the soles of her shoes clicked together and Vriska snorted when she saw Terezi do that. Terezi sure is one weird troll that she will never understand. However it was better than her being depress. After that whole incident with the slavers sweeps ago, it made Terezi more reserve. She would hide away on the ship somewhere and would not talk to Vriska for a long time. Terezi was even bold enough to not respond to Mindfang when she would address her. All Terezi would do was stare at the floor and not say a word. It angered Mindfang to no end and soon the warnings and threats from Mindfang became real. Terezi would get hit a few times from Mindfang and Vriska remember one time she could not bare to see Terezi being treated in such a manner. 

It was nights afterward the incident. Terezi had not really spoke to Vriska and was really only expressing herself through violent outbursts. Which was understandable. Terezi had been through a lot and being a young troll, she did not know how to properly express herself. So on one night, Mindfang could not find Terezi. She was missing on the ship and she had sent Vriska to help find her. 

“Terezi? Where are you?” Vriska walked through the lower part of the ship to find Terezi. She knew where the girl was. Terezi had been running away to the same part of the ship since she had been little. “Terezi?” She walked blindly into the darker part of the ship but she could hear shifting from one corner. Vriska walked closer and soon came face to face with Terezi. “Hey. The Captain is looking for you. She is kind of mad.” Vriska warned her, not wanting Terezi to get in trouble. Yet Terezi wanted nothing to do with her. “Leave me alone!” She shouted at her and kept sitting on the floor. “Come oooooooon Terezi.” Vriska sat down next to her but she scooted away from her. “Go away!” Terezi gave her a nasty glare, not wanting to be near any Serket. “Terezi…” Vriska reached out but Terezi roughly shoved the girl away from her. 

“Hey!” The force made Vriska fall on her back and that made the girl growl in annoyance at her friend. “Don’t push me!” Vriska yelled at Terezi but stood up as Terezi stayed seated on the floor. She did not respond to Vriska and Terezi only stared at the floor. Once Vriska knew she was not going to get anything out of her, she let out a huff and started walking away from her. “I’m telling the Captain!” Vriska told her the threat but Terezi did not say anything. She could not believe. Vriska was just trying to help her but Terezi was being a jerk to her. 

All Vriska was trying to was watch out for her and instead she was treated as if she was not important. Which was a big no-no. She was a Serket! Mindfang would always tell her that their blood was the most important one on the ship. So to be pushed down by Terezi was a blow to her pride as well as their friendship. So, she ran off to Mindfang in a fit of rage. Why should Vriska care? Terezi clearly did not. 

With negative thoughts in mind, she knew that she was going to rat Terezi out on where she was hiding. It did not take long to find Mindfang. The older troll was not happy once Vriska walked up to her upset and complaining about Terezi. “Where is she,” Mindfang questioned as she could almost see tears forming on Vriska’s face. By now, Mindfang was done putting up with Terezi and was wondering why she has yet to throw the teal blood over board.

“She’s in the cargo area…” Vriska muttered under her breath and looked to the floor. She knew that she was setting Terezi up for trouble, but right now she did not care. In fact, Vriska was still mad about getting pushed to the ground and wanted to get Terezi back for it. “I am tired of that Pyrope.” That was all Vriska heard as Mindfang walked past her to find Terezi. Vriska turned around and started following her, wondering what was going to happen. 

There was a quick pace in her step and it was hard for Vriska to keep up without running due to her tiny legs. It did not help that Mindfang had no intention of slowing down for her. “She also pushed me.” Vriska commented out to express on how Terezi wronged her. Any other night she would have not cared but Terezi has been mean to lately and this was her final straw. 

Mindfang found Terezi with no problem as the young troll had not moved from her spot. “Get up.” There was coldness in her voice that showed that Mindfang was not playing around. Terezi stay seated for a second before slowly getting up. She watched the floor with a frown on her face. No one in the room was not happy. Terezi was mad at the world for the way she was treat, Vriska was upset that Terezi was changing, and Mindfang had better things to do than to deal with these two trolls. “You should be working out on deck. Care to explain why you are down here, not working and why you pushed Vriska?” Mindfang glared down at her as Vriska stood behind Mindfang, watching everything unfold. There was silence and it looked like no one was going to say anything. 

A growl came from Mindfang’s throat. “Well? Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to explain yourself?” She pressed on for the Pyrope to talk but she just looked up to her to give her a glare. Vriska swallowed the lump in her throat because no one would dare give the Captain a look like that. Mindfang was not impressed with Terezi’s rebellious attitude and snatched the girl’s arm. 

Not even a second later she started pulling the girl out of the cargo area. Terezi screamed and pulled, but it no good. She could not get away and before they could fully leave the area, Terezi dared to sink her teeth in to Mindfang’s gloved hand. Her sharp teeth entered deeply into her cloth and Mindfang grunted at the contact. Vriska could not help but to stare in shock and Mindfang pulled her hand away quickly. No blood was drawn but the older woman was far from happy. “You are going to get hit for that!” Right away Terezi tried running off but Mindfang grabbed her by the only thing that was in her grasp. Her hair. 

With a hard tug, Mindfang pulled Terezi back to her and held the Pyrope high enough to where her feet barely touched the floor. She let out a screamed and Vriska felt sickness running through her. Vriska stood in fear and backed away, not wanting anything to do with what was going on. “You do not bite me!” Before Terezi could do anything else, Mindfang roughly slapped the back of her head and started pulling back out. “I am not dealing with you.” Terezi was already crying by then and Vriska followed from a distance, wishing to help out her friend. Yet, she stayed quiet in fear of earning a punishment. 

The crew members quickly moved out of Mindfang’s way, not wanting to get in the way of the angered pirate. Vriska wondered where they were going but soon figured it out as Mindfang kept dragging the Pyrope. Where the slaves and prisoners were held. It was mostly just called the slave hold because that was what almost every troll in there was. 

It was a cramped block filled with many trolls to were almost everyone had to stand in order to fit in there. Sometimes Vriska would hear them crying out for their release or food. She never paid them any mind. Mindfang said every troll had their place and only a special few can break free from their position that was handed to them. 

Once the reality set in with her, she knew she should not let Terezi get trapped in there. Who knows that they would do to her? After all, everyone on the ship knew who they were. Vriska was sure she would be an easy target if she let her get put in there. “Captain! Leave her alone!” Mindfang stopped in her tracks and stared at Vriska as Terezi still tried to break free. “What did you say to me?” Her words were low and very threatening, and Vriska knew she crossed the line. “Uh...please?” Vriska felt like a fool. She knew not to talk back to Mindfang but she did not want Terezi to get in trouble. She was tired of seeing her suffering all the time. It reality, Vriska felt stuck in the middle between the two trolls. 

They were so different and just wanted them to get along. “Who do you think you are?” Mindfang let go of Terezi who quickly ran off the moment her grip loosen. “I…” Vriska was lost with words as she was now was the one on the spotlight. A fake laughter escaped from Mindfang and that made Vriska gulp. “If you are so willing to protect her then you must be willing to take her punishment then.” 

Before Vriska could argue, she was grabbed by arm and unlocked the door into the small block. Vriska felt herself starting to panic as she tried to talk her out of it. Yet, there was nothing she could say as Mindfang shoved her into the dark, tight block. Right when the door closed, she felt like she could not move. There was no room to move as there was so many other trolls in there and now their attention was on her. 

She felt bony hands reach for her and start tugging at her. There are shouts of threats directed to her as they knew who she was. After all, her ancestor did enslaved them. It was easy for them to try and pick on a smaller version of the woman who caused them so much suffering. Soon, the hands started clawing at her and Vriska wanted to scream but one hand over her mouth. 

Vriska was no sure how long she was there but she was there for a while. She had cried out for help to where her voice had turned raw especially the other trolls around her tried to inflict pain on her. There was two trolls that tried to defend her but they were outnumbered and were beat to death. Vriska did not know why they even bother to try and help her but now they were dead for trying. Being in there was terrifying for a young troll such as herself and she was sure her crying got much attention but fell on deaf ears as everyone was too afraid to help. 

The only sign of hope occurred during that day. The door ended clicking open and almost every troll in had shot up in hopes of being free. Yet, stand there was Terezi along with the first mate, Landmark. He quickly pulled Vriska out as the Serket was doing her best to not cry. She was shaking hard in fear and Terezi pulled the girl into a hug. Apparently Terezi had went to the first mate and he managed to convince Mindfang to let Vriska out...hours later. Regardless, Vriska was out of there. Vriska could not remember much of that night as the event was traumatizing to her. 

Even now, sweeps later, Vriska still blocked out those memories. It was something she never wanted to remember as it was too much for her. She suppose not knowing was better than actually being aware of what had occurred. Still that was not a problem right now. Right now, Vriska was going on a journey with Terezi. 

‘Ready,” Terezi questioned as she started making her way off the ship. Vriska unwillingly followed. Three other crew members made their way off as there was still a skip in Terezi’s step as Vriska dragged, not wanting to go on land. “This is going to be boring!” Vriska yelled at the top of her lungs as they started walking on the docks. It was chaotic as everyone was moving about as there were many ships there that night. “No way. This is going to be fun.” Terezi started running off when the first mate saw her getting to far along with two other trusted crew members. “Terezi! Don’t run off. You need to stay close.” He warned as Vriska laughed at her and Terezi gave an exaggerated groan. “Whaaat? Why?” This was suppose to be an adventure after all. She should be free to explore everything. 

“Can’t let you getting hurt. Captain put me in charge and you two are not getting hurt under my watch.” Both girl’s groaned as he told them to stop complaining. Yet it was said playfully. Vriska leaned to Terezi and whispered, “Let’s sneak away later.” There was deadliness and mischief in her voice and Terezi knows that it means nothing but trouble, but still played along. So a wicked grin enters Terezi’s face as she gives her a simple, “Ok.”


	7. The Treasure in the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska are on land and ready to cause trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! Im back to school and my university is already giving me a ton of work! Yea! This is going to be fun! So don't panic if I don't update often. If you ask I when the next update would be, I will give you a very rough estimate on the date. not only that but I am working on another Fanfiction that is co written. So Please take a look at [Dead Meat Game](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2182224/chapters/4776387) and/or [ Dear Diary: It's Vriska](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2167770/chapters/4740663)
> 
> HEAR MUSIC THAT GOES WITH THIS CHPATER: [Click Here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zrLieLZ_i8)

“Shhh…they can’t know,” Vriska pulled Terezi silently out the their shared room. Mindfang knew a lot of trolls. Both on land and sea. It was not hard for them to be given a block in one of the local towns. The hive they are staying in is a beautiful, large one. The whole place was covered in a darker shade of green that was borderline to the blues, but just slightly lower than Terezi’s blood. 

Still, the place was very impressive as there was expensive vases and portraits cover the hive. It was nice for someone in their class but Terezi was sure that their host was just another criminal working under Mindfang. It annoyed the Pyrope a bit but she was just grateful that she was not going to stay there during the day because they were sneaking out. It was a little adventure that they planned on doing because...they were young and stupid! 

Vriska grinned and pulled Terezi out of the coon she was in. Terezi knows what Vriska was planning and went along with it. Vriska helps Terezi from falling out and that when Terezi noticed that Vriska was already dressed. She was only wearing black even though the light from the sun would give them away. She did though have a hooded cloak covering most of her clothing and Terezi know that Vriska had planned all of this way in advance because she tossed Terezi one too. Yet, Terezi did not have clean clothes on and Terezi changed out of the clothes. 

She threw on her black shirt with her sign on it and just a simple black pants. Vriska waited impatiently near their coons as she was going through her own backpack. Terezi took her time and once she was done Vriska tossed her a cloak just like hers. “Put that on unless you want to get fried by the sun. Don’t look at it or else you will go blind.” 

Vriska warned Terezi quietly and Terezi nodded her head. She got her backpack and Vriska opened the door. They were on the second floor in the large hive and right away she could hear voices and laughter downstairs. Great. Sound like the adults were still up. 

This was only going to make it harder for them but there was nothing that the Scourge Sisters can not handle. Terezi noticed the voices too and was already moving back inside the room. Vriska grabbed her hand and gently pulls her back out. “We got this.” It was a whisper and Terezi nodded her head hesitantly. Vriska got on her stomach and started crawling on the floor as Terezi rolled her eyes and walked instead.

“Get down.” Vriska gave Terezi a glare and deciding to play along, Terezi got on her knees to make their appearance less obvious. Vriska kept moving forward and the Pyrope followed and when they got near the stairs, Vriska lay on her stomach as Terezi rested on her knees. The voices can still be heard downstairs and Terezi wonders what is going on down there. “I bet they are gambling down there.” A few shouts of joy and annoyance comes out of no where from the adults and it only proves Terezi’s idea. Vriska nodded her head.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” They slowly made their way down the stairs in fear the somebody would see them. Yet, the adults never saw them as they kept going down the silent stairs. There was no creak as they step down and both girl’s were glad about that. 

They manage to reach the bottom and Terezi glances around while Vriska opens the front door to the hive. Their shoes squeaked on the glossy floor but the adults were too distracted to notice it. So luckily for them, no one notices them when they walk out and quietly close the door behind them. It was their first day there and Vriska and Terezi want to explore the town. It was smaller than the last one they went to. 

There is only one bar there and maybe no more than twenty hives scattered about. Then four shops that sold and traded goods. The place is almost off map. Which is why Mindfang picked the place. She has friends there and wanted Vriska and Terezi in hiding. It was a win-win for her. Yet, what the pirate did not count on was for the two troublemakers to be running off. Which is what they are doing. 

“I found a map on Landmark and I think it will lead us to treasure! We can be real pirates!” Terezi rolled her eyes. “Last time we tried to be pirates, we got in big trouble.” The memories gives her chills. Yes, it happened sweeps but Terezi is still impacted by the actions of the past and she sucked at expressing herself because she did not know how. “You’re still with that? You should just let it go.” 

Terezi is annoyed by the comment and is tempted to bring up a sensitive subject but does not in fear of messing up their friendship. So Terezi bites her tongue. The Pyrope lets out a sigh and mutters a, “Okay.” Vriska did not seem to care about her mood change, or pretended not to. “Great. Let’s get away from this hive and then I can show you.” Vriska runs off and Terezi hesitates but soon makes her way away from the hive. This seemed like a fun idea at first but now that they were actually doing it, Terezi started to have some doubts about it all. Still, Terezi did not want to look weak in front of Vriska. 

She is tough too. Terezi is not scared of anything and just because she is a shade under Vriska did not mean she was more of a coward. Terezi is out to prove herself to everyone. So she jogs and catches up with Vriska. “What kind of treasure? Like gold?” Terezi questions as they walk away from the hive. “I don’t know! Maybe. It must be something good if Captain gave it to the first mate.” Vriska walks down the dirt path. There was no other trolls out but them. Even with the cloaks, the sun’s rays burn Terezi through the cloak and she feels the heat against her skin. She keeps her head low and just let Vriska lead. Terezi hates the sun and just wish they would have an adventure during the night instead. It did not help that the sun is starting to rise.

“What if it’s nothing?” Terezi moved quickly to get out of the rays of the sun and Vriska seems to be doing the same. They both look uncomfortable in the sun as they try to be careful so that way they won’t sunburn. “There has to be something there!” Vriska is sure that treasure is being hidden away and she is going to find it. “Lets just see and if I’m right then I get to keep it all,” Vriska smirks as starts following the map. The X on the map is not far from where they are staying. It is only a few miles away from the town. It should only take two hours on foot to get there and two back. If they hurry then they will be back in time before anyone would know that they ran off. “Sure. You can keep it all…” Terezi was not really ever interested in treasure. The Serkets are something else though. 

They are materialistic. They only care about the physical items in front of them and nothing else. Terezi is really just more interested in the adventure. “Great! Because as a Serket, Mindfang said that I deserve everything I earned and I don’t need to share it. She said that I can decide who gets some and who doesn’t.” She grins and Terezi rolls her eyes. Vriska was starting to get annoying real fast. Mindfang this and Captain that. 

That was all Vriska talked about. Mindfang. The older woman is Vriska’s hero and Terezi can not stand her...but she does. Terezi forces herself to behave in front of the Captain even though the woman is not right in so many ways. Terezi can just feel it. Something about her is just wrong and it is not just something personal. Mindfang is just someone that Terezi will never trust. She will never tell Vriska though. Her Scourge Sister looks up to her ancestor. 

The last thing Terezi wants is to get into a fight with Vriska over the Captain, which they has before in the past. “Yeah, Vriska. Whatever you say.” Vriska is satisfied with the answer even though there was heavy sarcasm in her voice. 

Vriska hums at Terezi’s comment as a way to tell her that she knew what she meant by her words. Sill, she does not return a comment back and keeps walking to the edge of the small town. They walk and quickly find themselves out of the town and into the forest. “Vriska, do you know where we are going?” Terezi ducks under a low branch as Vriska almost runs into it. “Yeah! We need to go east and that is where we are going.” Vriska glances up and down to look at the map and to the path in front of her. “Ok. I just don’t to get lost because you can’t read a map.” 

“I can read a map! Captain taught me. Don’t be jealous because she did not teach you.” Vriska looks back at Terezi but walks into a tree as a result. Vriska cries out in pain and Terezi laughs. “Oh shut up!” 

Terezi keeps laughing and walks past the tree. “At least I did not walk into a tree.” There is a smirk on Terezi’s face and Vriska feels a bit embarrassed for looking stupid in front of Terezi. She hates looking like a fool in front Terezi. She wants to be a troll that Terezi would want to be, not someone to laugh at. The smirk stays on Terezi’s face and Vriska groans knowing that Terezi will remember this and will keep bringing it up forever. So Vriska shuts her mouth and runs to catch up with Terezi. 

They walk and walk. Vriska takes lead again as she manages not to get them lost. Even though Terezi is worried, Vriska keeps reassuring her that they are going the right way even though the forest is getting thinner. “I think we are lost.” Terezi told Vriska bluntly and she lays on the grass under a tree. The Pyrope does everything possible to shield herself from the sun while Vriska is angrily staring at the map. 

“No. We are going on the right path but I don’t know why it is taking us in the middle of nowhere.” They should be arriving to their destination soon but the map showed of something odd on it. “You got us lost. Now we are going to die!” Terezi starts yelling as she stays on the floor. Vriska knows that Terezi is just exaggerating to make a point and it is working. 

Even though she was starting to have doubts about it now and Vriska was starting to think that this might have been a mistake. Yet, she was not going to admit that. If there was one that that Mindfang taught her, it is to be confident in your decision. Don’t have doubt. “Shut up, Terezi. We are not lost. Look come over here.” Terezi looks up and crawls to Vriska without getting up. Vriska has the urge to punch her for being weird but instead scoots next to her to let her see the map. “We are right here.” She points to the map. “This is where we need to go.” Terezi gives a hum and stares at at the map. “So we’re not far then.”

Vriska nods her head and rolls the map back up. “Yeah. So let’s go get the treasure already.” She stands up and helps Terezi up.

They walk and there is silence between them for once. Small conversation is made but other than that, they do not talk much. Tiredness is starting to show on Terezi as she starts to drag slightly but Vriska is doing no better. Vriska feels herself getting tired and was doing her best to not let it show. They never stay up this late in the day and it was affecting the girls. The heat was not helping either as the rays is making them sweat and groan.

Terezi keeps on complaining as Vriska keeps on marching forward to the the treasure. “What’s that smell?” Terezi questions and starts to look around. Her alertness rises again. “What? I don’t smell anything.” Vriska looks around tries to inhale the air. “It’s like smoke but not just a fire. It’s like food...?” She was having trouble pinpointing what she was smelling and Vriska tries to smell the air again as she walks. “Oh! I think I smell it now.” 

Vriska breaths the air again. “Yeah. I smell food too. Is somebody cooking something?” Vriska starts look around. They are too far away from the town for it to come from there. “Maybe. Isn’t that the direction you were taking us,” Terezi asks and Vriska nods. “Yeah. The map show the treasure there. What if someone is beating us to it? What if they are taking the treasure?!” Vriska starts running full speed in that direction. “Hey! Wait up!” Terezi calls out and runs to try and catch up to her. Vriska did not wait or slow down. There was no way that Vriska was going to lose her treasure. This is her first hunt for wealth and Vriska was not going to fail at it. She couldn’t. What kind of pirate would she be if she lost all her treasure so soon? 

“Wait up!” Terezi calls out and almost trips on a rock and Vriska does not slow down at all. Vriska could still see smoke off in the distance as it does not look out of control. It did not consume the shy harshly nor did it look wide, but it was a bit bigger than a normal camp fire. “Whoa!” Vriska stops running and Terezi ends up bumping into her. “Ah! Why’d you stop?” Terezi is annoyed but Vriska stares blankly out in front of her. “Look, Terezi.” The Pyrope glances up and she was not expecting what she saw. It looked to be a large fort. The walls must have been made out of the largest trees to ever exist. Therefore, the walls are humongous compared to anything they have ever seen. 

Terezi can see a guard at the pinnacle part of the wall and Terezi just stares in amazement. “What is that place?” Vriska stands on her tippy toes to try and get a better look. “I don’t know...Let’s go see!” Terezi is more excited than Vriska was expecting and thought the idea was foolish. These trolls could be ferals or killers. Even though Vriska had a high sense for adventure, she was still worried about the trolls could be slavers. She hates slavers. “I don't think this is a g- Hey! Terezi!” Terezi was already sneaking her way closer to the wall and Vriska catches up to her as she shakes her head. “What’s wrong with you? You are going to get us killed.” 

Vriska does her best to keep out of side of the guard now only three yards away. “You were the one who wanted the treasure,” Terezi counters and keeps walking to the wall. The trees almost hide the wooden wall and it blends in perfectly with the environment. She sure wished that she lived in a treehive. That would be amazing to place in to live in as all her friends would be jealous of her hive. All her friends would want to visit and go to her hive. She could imagine it already and it looks stunning in her imagination. It is a shame that she is forced to live at sea with pirates. She will always play with the idea on how her life would be different if she lived on land would be. “I’m suppose to be in charge,” Vriska complains and Terezi is already trying to ignore her. “Say who?” 

“The Captain. She says that because I am her descendant I am the leader.” Vriska grins as she explains and Terezi want to hit her head against a tree. “You really believe that?” Vriska’s comment annoys Terezi completely and she hates how her friend was taking after the older woman. “Uh yeah! It’s true though. Don’t worry, Terezi. Captain says that you can be my first mate.” 

“First mate? I don’t want to be your first mate. I don’t even want to be a pirate.” Terezi tells her honestly as they got closer to the large wooden gate that matched the wall. It would be a shame if there was a fire. This place would not stand a chance against it. “Halt!” Vriska and Terezi both freeze realizing that they finally got in the eyesight of one of the guards. Terezi looks up even though the sun was almost burning her eyes. “Who are you and what do you want?” 

Terezi glances back at Vriska and Vriska tries to think up a lie. “I’m Vriska and she’s Terezi. We...are lost.” Terezi gives a blank stare to her friend and wants to laugh. “You sure did.” A grin appears on her face and Vriska wants to punch Terezi for her snarky comment, but the guard does not hear Terezi’s comment. He seems to buy it and looks to a fellow guard for their opinion. They both don’t see the girl’s as a threat and nods his head.

“Let them in!” Right when he say that, the wooden doors open up outwards and they take a few steps back. “Cool,” Terezi breaths and points inside the gate. She seems a lot more excited than Vriska by now as she was sure that she was not getting treasure if other trolls are there already, but she did like what she sees. The place is huge inside and there are hives everywhere along with shops. It looks like any other town but their hives were made out of wood as well and the trolls are dress different. 

Way different from what Vriska was used to. They are dress like ferals and have outdated clothes. While Terezi and Vriska had t-shirts and pants with their cloak. These trolls are wearing something that a tribe would wear. Actually, Vriska is sure that her and Terezi did walk into a tribe. A very large tribe and almost modern tribe. It broke most of the stereotypes that Vriska had learned from books and by word of mouth. There was an almost modern touch to the place that Vriska had trouble pinpointing out. It could be that some shops had signs as a few young trolls around their age are playing with toys that must have been bought. 

“This is cool.” Vriska hear the excitement in Terezi’s voice but they are interrupted another troll. It looks like one of the guards. Vriska can only tell by the sword that hangs in his hand and the only armor he owns is a helmet. “What is this about you two being lost?” The gate slams shut behind them and Terezi looks back at it. It looks like they are not running away and nothing was getting either. So it was best if they just explain themselves even though Terezi is not sure what story Vriska was going to use. 

To her surprise Vriska is honest with him. “We...uh. We are here to get the treasure.” The guard gives them a confused look and wonders what she means. “Treasure? What treasure are you two looking for? Are sure it was not a joke, but you aren’t from around here and I don’t think I’ve seen you in the neighboring town either.” He points out but at the same time he does not see any harm in them. “I found a map and thought it was leading us to treasure.” Vriska holds up the map and the guard takes it out of her hands and looks at it. 

“This is a map but it does not lead to treasure.” Terezi glares at Vriska. “This map is just a regular map. It was only meant to lead you hear and that was it. Sorry but there is no treasure.” He hands Vriska the map back and there is a frown on Vriska’s face. “Really? It leads to nothing,” asks very disappointed as she could hear Terezi trying to hold back her laughter. “I’m afraid so.”

“Nice job, Vriska. You just took us to another place.” Vriska shoves the map to Terezi and growls. “Shut up.” She looks to her friend and is so close to punching her. Sometimes Terezi could be annoying beyond than what she could handle. She cared about her Scourge Sister but...there was something about Terezi that made Vriska want to just want to out do the teal blood. Vriska was not sure if it was just in her head because she doubts that Terezi feels the same. “Whatever, Vriska. Let’s just go back to the hive.” Right then and there, Terezi was already turning around and was making her way to go leave the...well… Vriska did not know how to describe it. The only word that seems to fit was a tribe. “You two should not be out in the day right now. The sun will at its highest soon. It will very dangerous. Come. You two should stay here until the sun reaches a lower setting.” 

Terezi and Vriska look at each other and wonder if it was a good idea to stay. Neither of them seem bothered by the idea and Terezi nods her head. “Sure! This place looks cool.” Vriska groans and is already hating the idea of spending a few hours there. Maybe she should have not planned to run off because this is going to boring. “Yeah, I guess.” There is a frown on Vriska’s face while Terezi is almost jumping for joy. The guard nods his head. “Follow me then.” The girls play along even though Vriska trying to figure out why Terezi is so happy to be there. “What got you excited?” 

“I’ve never been in a tribe before!” She jumps on Vriska’s back and the Serket almost falls over but managed to stay standing. “Hey!” Vriska cries out and Terezi’s weight stays on her back and holds on to her. “March, lowblood,” Terezi shouts and trolls start to look at them Vriska is glad that Terezi is underweight because she sure that she would have fallen if not. “I’m actually higher than you on that stupid scale.” Vriska points out and that caused Terezi to try and jump down on her back again. The guard ignores their antics and keeps walking and Vriska decides to keep carrying Terezi in hopes that it would make her not complain. Maybe she will just drop her when she least expected it…

“You walk slow Vriska.” Terezi laughs. “You are on my back.” Vriska does her best to not drop Terezi as there is slight bitterness in her voice. All while Terezi is smiling like an idiot. They follow the guard and Vriska can see a few trolls her age and that was she noticed that almost every troll there had some kind of tattoo. Some had more than others and Vriska thought that it was kind of cool actually even she was sure that Terezi was more fascinated with the art. The stare that Terezi was giving was proof of that.

“Vriska, this place is cool! We should stay here.” There is so much joy in her voice that it almost sickens her. “This crappy place? How ‘bout no?” Vriska can feel Terezi clinging tighter with her nails and Vriska knows that she is doing it on purpose. Vriska wants to push Terezi off of her because this girl can really push her buttons. Sometimes she just hates her and she is not sure in what way she means that in.


	8. No Fun Serket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska meets two new trolls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still sick and in college. God help me.

This place was far from the understanding of Vriska. A bunch of trolls who band together to believe in their own thoughts different from the Empire's. Now, it could be argued that it was not far from what Mindfang had created, or the Signless' group. He had a ideas that differed from the social norm. This trolls were different though. They were cut off from the Empire and is trying to live separate with their own rules and regulations. It was an insult to the Empire that could cost every troll, that lives there, life. Regardless, trolls moved about happily and played in the dirt paths created. It was odd to Vriska but Terezi seems pleased by the sight. “Vriska, this place is cool...we should stay here!” Vriska shoved Terezi off of her, annoyed. 

“What? Don't be stupid, Terezi. We belong at sea. We are pirates.” Vriska reminds her with a glare forming on her face. Terezi tilts her head and gives Vriska a confused look. “We are not sea dwellers. We should be on land like everyone else.” Vriska keeps on walking and Terezi sighs as she follows Vriska. She knows that she can't win when arguing with her. She heard every lame excuse from Vriska. From Vriska bragging about her blood to reciting what Mindfang told her. Sometimes it made Terezi sick. She hates how they try to shove thoughts into her mind and how Mindfang just viewed her different. It wasn't in her mind. Terezi knows that Mindfang was singling her out at times. She didn’t care how many times that Vriska insisted that it was not the case, but Terezi was not blind....she knows the truth. 

“Sure. Whatever you say...” Terezi just plays along and Vriska nods her head. She makes a face on how Vriska acts as they walked further inside the largest building there. Terezi walks in with an amazed expression and was wondering where they were going. The troll leading the way takes them inside where they are right away greeted with a large room. It is dimly lighted with candles. Vriska looks unimpressed and Terezi can't help but to wonder why. Their foot steps echo on the cobble floor and that is when she notice a troll standing before them. He starts talking to the guard but Vriska had no interest to listen. She was always a bad listener. 

“Hey, Terezi. Want to ditch this place?” The Pyrope gave Vriska a disapproving look and that earns Terezi an exaggerated sigh. They try to continue their silent argument but are quickly interrupted by the adult trolls. “Teal blood. What is your name? You look familiar.” Terezi looks up to the older trolls and got worried. Did she do something wrong? She had never been there. So they couldn’t be mad at her if they just met her. Terezi almost wants to panic and she is annoyed when she saw a grin on Vriska's face. It looks like the girl was enjoying her panicking. 

It angers Terezi and she would punch her if the adults were not standing in front of her. “Uh...I'm Terezi Pyrope...” The guard and the older troll look to each other. “Pyrope...where have I heard that?” The older troll muses and Terezi does her best to not panic. “Ah! Yes. I know where I heard that from. I believe I know your ancestor.” Vriska gave Terezi a questionable look and Terezi was also returning the look. “My ancestor? Wait?! You know my ancestor?” 

Terezi's eyes widen at the thought of actually hearing news about her ancestor. She was sure this as a dream that was going to leave hr soon because this is unreal to her. Vriska did not seem to care but was rolling her eyes on how Terezi was reacting. She thought that the girl was being ridiculous and was ready to punch Terezi to calm her down. 

“I would not state know. Redglare was what she was called, I believe. Even after all these sweeps, I still remember. Only because her appearance gave her away. However, I hate to inform you that she is no longer with the living.” Terezi frowned and sigh. It was something she had suspected but she always had hoped that her ancestor was still out there somewhere. She had hoped that she would find her ancestor and they would go on adventures. Her ancestor would teach her how to do many cool things and it was something that she wanted. Yet, Mindfang would avoid the topic and it was only last sweep that Mindfang just told her that she was abandoned. The story was something Terezi did believe. It seemed off to her but know that she knows that this Redglare was dead, it makes her start doubting her past thoughts. 

“So she's dead...” It is a statement and Vriska looks to Terezi to see her mod change. It goes from a happy girl to sadness in seconds. Terezi did not look ready to cry though. She is keeping a strong look and it is amazing how calm she is about it. Vriska knows that Terezi is putting on a face, but it is not getting past her. Vriska can knows Terezi too well, but she is not going to say anything about it. She just wants to watch everything unfold and tell the Captain later. 

“That I correct. Redglare is unfortunately dead. I assume you are her descendant.” Terezi nods her head. “I am sorry for your lost.” The older troll looks honest and Terezi does not doubt that he is telling her the truth. “How did she die? Do you know?” Vriska huffs as she is not interested in the conversation and the guard also looks bored. Terezi does give Vriska a light shove and she returns it back but harder. The guard grunts and both girls stop as the troll is so much bigger than them. “I know nothing of her death. I apologize that I don't have the answer to your question.”

“How did you know her?” Terezi wondered if her ancestor Redglare had been here. She was glad that she knows her ancestor's handle. It was a start. Mindfang would never even say her title. Nothing. Her ancestor was always a secrete to her but this was her chance to find out more. “Oh, it was many sweeps ago. About six sweeps if I remember correctly. A young teal blood was wondering around the area, similar to you.” Terezi's listens intensely. There is a smile appearing on her face. This is it. She was finally learning about her ancestor and she was being compared to her. Terezi is filled with absolute joy as sh stands and listens in silence. “She was trying to find the town lose to here but made a wrong turn. She was so young. A tad older than you two. The young girl was making a delivery and needed a place to stay as day was almost at it's highest.” Vriska yawns loudly and Terezi gives her a glare but does not say anything to her. The older troll does not stop talking as he went on with his story. 

“We normally do not allow trolls from the outside in her. However, she was just a little troll. So we let her in, and she became a frequent visitor over the sweeps. She wanted to stay here but, we just could not allow outer trolls to stay. Redglare understood even though I remember seeing the disappointment on her face.” Terezi could tell that he was going through history. “For a while after that she was gone and when she returned, she was explaining that she was a legislacerator now. Redglare was so proud with herself. I remember seeing the shine in her eyes at the time but I noticed that it faded over time. I am rambling on. Your friend there looks tired. You two need to rest.” 

Terezi frowns and shoves Vriska awake. Vriska coughs and was ready to push Terezi back. She oddly did not and Terezi wonders why for a moment. “Where are we going to sleep,” Terezi questions with a sadness in her voice. She wants to hear more about Redglare but it looks like she was not getting anything else out of the older troll. 

Instead they were showed off to a block in second of the largest building. It reminds Terezi of being on the ship because it was cramp and dark. She did not mind but Vriska was whining and leaning on Terezi. “Soooooooo tired.” Terezi does not say anything as they are guided to a corner where a small pile was already made for them. They are left there and Vriska lays down immediately. “I'm going to sleep. You can sleep somewhere else.” Vriska does a tired laughter and steals the entire pile of blankets. Terezi frowns and jumps on Vriska. The girl is not happy and starts having a coughing fit. She tries to crawl away from Terezi, but still wraps her arms around Vriska to try and keep her down. Vriska groans and shoves her hand in Terezi's face. The other girl laughs like a manic. Other trolls are already watching them and they know that they do not belong to their little village. None bother her expect two young trolls. Both of them their age.

“Hi there! Who are you?” It was a young maroon blood. She looks like a nice girl and Terezi quickly jumps off of Vriska. It looks awkward and Terezi realizes that. Vriska did not seem to care as she looks interested in the other trolls in front of her. There is also a brown blood next to her. He is looking at the floor before glancing at Vriska. Terezi stands up and Vriska follows her lead and Vriska stands tall and smirks and nudges Terezi. 

“I am Vriska Serket and this is Terezi Pyrope. We are the Scourge Sisters. Who are you two?” Vriska leans in but the action does not looks like it bothers the girl. “I am Aradia Medigo.” She seems happy to see new trolls their age while the brown blood is just curious. Aradia stays close to Vriska and it bothers the Serket. She was not used to a lowblood being so confident. She was just used to having lowbloods being so submissive that it bothers Vriska. All the lowbloods on the ship would jump off of the ship if she wanted them to do so. It was good to have so much power. “Well Aradia, want's your friend's name?”

Vriska points to the boy next to her and Terezi watches the boy shift back slightly. He manages to introduced himself instead of allowing Aradia to do it for him. “I'm...Tavros.” His words came out louder than she thought it would. Yet, Terezi spoke up in curiosity. “What's your last name? Don't just tell us your first name.” Vriska nods her head in agreement as a tired smile is on Terezi. It is to annoying Vriska that Aradia and Tavros were wide awake because it made them look weak. They looked like they never stayed up late when that was all they were on the ship. “...uh...Nitram. I am Tavros Nitram.” 

He only spoke up when Vriska pokes him on the chest to talk. Terezi knows this game very well. It was one that her and Vriska always played. They could be in a trouble making duo. With each others help, They would come across as dangerous and would always knew when the other was signaling it. It was a secret cue. Terezi always knew it when she sees it. What they do is they mess with other trolls. They act like tough little trolls and would try to get something out of it. It could be something simple like getting satisfaction of scarying someone or to get something valuable.

Regardless, Terezi knows that Vriska does not like Aradia. She grew up with Vriska and knows when the girl hates someone. Yet, she was not sure how Vriska was feeling about Tavros. So Terezi spoke up next. "Do you guys live here? It's kind of cool here?" Araida opens her mputh to talk but Vriska cuts her off. "Cool? This place is stupid and lame. Why would you guys live here? Right Terezi?" Vriska does a fake laugh and lightly hits Terezi. Even though she does not agree with Vriska Terezi nods her head. "Uh huh." 

Tavros stands there nervously and makes a suggestion when Aradia crosses her arms on her chest. "We could play a game to, uh, have some fun." Vriska makes a face and shakes her head. She is way too tired but she does not want to show it. "What? No way! WE just want to hang out here and...chill! Right Terezi?" 

"Nope! I want to play." Terezi gets a glare from Vriska and everyone is looking at the Serket, waiting for her to say something. "Fine. We could play a stupid game."


	9. Changing Views

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska play with their new friends but something comes between the two girls that makes things a bit awkward.

Terezi laughs at Aradia’s joke. She thought the girl was nice and funny and was glad to be around other trolls her age. Not that she dislikes Vriska but they were always together. They did not agree on everything. Terezi just wants to make new friends and Aradia and Tavros seem like good trolls. “That was a good one, huh Vriska?” She looks back where Vriska and Tavros are walking. He is trying to have a conversation with her but Vriska keeps frowning. “It was not funny.” That was the response Terezi got and she gives Aradia an apologetic look. She wants Vriska to get along with these two but Vriska just does not want to cooperate as Aradia leads them into another one of the more smaller rooms. There is no there trolls there but there are a lot of table everywhere and Terezi has to guess that this is where they eat. “We could play here. We just can't trip from the tables.” Aradia explains and Vriska looks to Terezi as Tavros makes his way next Aradia. 

“Hey Terezi. I bet we could beat these losers,” Vriska pokes at her and Terezi wants to groan because Vriska always has to win at everything. It sometimes made playing with Vriska impossible. Still, Terezi can’t say she is not competitive but she was hoping that Vriska could just be….nicer. “What game are we playing,” Terezi questions and ignores Vriska’s comment. That causes her friend to huff and Terezi knows that Vriska likes being the center of attention, or at least keep Terezi’s attention. Actually, no one looks to be paying attention to Vriska as Tavros answers. “How about Flarping? Uh, If you guys do that.” Terezi grins. Her and Vriska always Flarp. A game that they do in their spare time recently. They learned the game when they talked to a troll a few sweeps older than them. Terezi could not remember the troll’s game. She was sure she never even heard it. The girl was a slave on their ship. A new one. She overheard Vriska and Terezi whining about being bored as Mindfang yelled at them to shut up or she would put them to work. 

They stayed quiet until Mindfang went off to do work. It was then that the girl walked up to them and taught them about a game called Flarp. Terezi was eager to learn as Vriska did not seem interested in learning anything from a lowblood slave. Vriska was trying to convince Terezi to leave the lowblood slave to her work, but Terezi was just so interested in knowing a new game. So, with an annoyed grunt, Vriska stayed as the girl explained how to Flarp. She talked for a couple of minutes until Mindfang had came back and told the girl to get back to work or she was not eating that day. The slave apologized and took off out of the block. 

Mindfang later asked what she was telling them and Terezi explained happily that she was taught them a game. There was a frown on their Captain’s face that made Terezi’s smile fade. Vriska has slowly scooting away from the sense but Mindfang pulled her back in. “You two should be training. Not playing wiggler games,” was what she told them. Vriska was trying to kiss up of course to her ancestor. “I told Terezi not to talk to her.” Terezi glared at Vriska and the young Serket looked proud that she ratted Terezi out. It backfired on Vriska, though because Mindfang told her to shut up and to go to her block. Vriska frowned and quickly ran off. Terezi remember standing there awkwardly. She did not know what to say or do as Mindfang kept staring at her. There was no other way to describe it other than it looked like she was almost trying to read her. Yet, it set off an alarmed in her mind as she had heard rumors from the crew that their Captain was capable of doing that. It scared her and she started wondering if she could really read minds. Maybe Mindfang could do more. Terezi knew she must have looked like a fool as she mentally debated what Mindfang could do. “Terezi. Why must you never listen?” Terezi did her best to think of a good response but, “I don’t understand Captain,” was what came out instead. She really did not know what she did wrong. She was only trying to find something fun to do. “Did Vriska suggest in not talking to that slave?”

“Yes, Captain,” she answered her quickly and truthfully as she wondered where she was going with this conversations. “Why didn’t you listen?” Terezi stayed quiet as she did not know how to respond. She viewed Vriska as her equal and not her boss. It was around that time where conflict started to brew between them. “Uh...I don’t know.” Mindfang shook her head and placed her hand on Terezi’s head, right between her horns. “You don’t know?” More pressure slowly started getting added and it eventually forces Terezi to nearly be looking at the floor. “I thought we spoke about you listening to Vriska was part of your job. Am I wrong?” 

Terezi knew that Mindfang was messing with her at this point. She was trying scare a troll way younger than her and Terezi was falling for it. She started to get worried because it was a tone that was almost always given to her when she was in trouble, and so far, Terezi was yet to talk her way out of trouble. “You are right Captain,” she said through teeth. It came out easy as she had been trained to say it without giving a hint of attitude in her voice. “Then that means you disobeyed a direct order from the Captain. Do you know how bad that is, Terezi?” Terezi heard a sick joy from Mindfang’s voice. 

This was just a game to her. She was purposely making it hard for Terezi and it was all because she wanted to play a game. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” She knew better than to argue but she was just tired of being picked on. Vriska almost never got in trouble but every little thing Terezi did was judged harshly by Mindfang. “Are you telling me that it is ok for you not to listen to your Captain?” It was a trick question that she could not win. Terezi knew she was in trouble and should back before she made it worse for herself. “No Captain. I’m sorry Captain.” She remembered hoping to just be let go but that was never the case. “And you yet you disobeyed me!” Mindfang laughed right then and Terezi got scared even more. “What am I going to do with you Terezi? You never seem to learn.” Terezi stayed quiet and knew that there was no escaping the punishment that was going to come. 

“Captain?” Terezi ears perked up at the voice and it was Vriska. They were both sure that Vriska had left and Mindfang looked to Vriska. “I told you to go your block. Why are you still here?” Terezi saw the fear on Vriska but the young Serket was trying so hard to be brave. Terezi had gave her props for it but also thought they both were being stupid by not listening to Mindfang. “Are you mad at Terezi?” Her voice was low and could barely be heard.

Mindfang growled and grabbed Terezi’s shirt and dragged her to Vriska. Mindfang did not say anything and got a hold of Vriska by the arm. They were both dragged out of that block and into Captain’s block. Vriska gave Terezi a look that was almost along the lines that she was in trouble because of her. All while Terezi did not care. She was already used to being in trouble and strangely Vriska was not. Terezi slowly started noticing that over the sweeps that Vriska was kind of sensitive but did her best to hide it. Yet, being in trouble was when Vriska often showed it. She remember hearing Vriska starting to quietly cry and Mindfang telling her to shut up or she would “give her a real reason to cry.” 

That ended up making Vriska cry even louder and Terezi stayed silent as she did not want to get in more trouble. Vriska was lucky that Mindfang did not do anything other than taking them to her block. She shoved Terezi in one corner facing the wall and did the same to Vriska on the other side of the block. “Both of you stand there and be quiet. Don’t move or make noise or I will hit you, understood?” Terezi gave a blunt, “Yes, Captain.”

Vriska’s came out more as a sob and Terezi heard Mindfang walk to Vriska. “Stop crying, Vriska.” Terezi dared not look and kept staring at the corner in the wall. Her friend still kept crying and all Terezi heard was a loud smack and Vriska crying even louder until Mindfang told her shut up again. Vriska held back her crying and it was lowered to whimpering. Terezi heard Mindfang walk away from Vriska and to the table in the middle of the room. She heard the chair scoot and it was quiet other than the sound of paper shuffling.They were left standing there for hours and Terezi’s feet started hurting. She soon found herself rocking on her heels to help the pressure on her feet. Mindfang soon saw her and told her to stop. More than eight hours later, she had to start lifting her legs individually off the floor because it started to become too painful to stand as young troll. She got caught again and she heard Mindfang stood up and went up behind her to smack her in the back of head. The action caught her off guard and made her head nearly hit the wall. 

“Stop moving,” was all she said and Terezi heard Vriska groaning as quietly as she could. Another two hours and her legs shook. Vriska was the first to crack though and she complained and asked Mindfang when she could sit. That earned a laughter from Mindfang. “You could have sat when you felt like it, but if you do then Terezi has to stay that way even longer.” Terezi frowned and knew that Mindfang was pinning them against each other. There was no noise other than a sigh from Vriska and Terezi dared to take a glance. To her surprise, Vriska was still standing. Luckily for both of them, Mindfang kicked them out a couple of minutes later. That all happened just because Terezi wanted to know how to Flarp. It was a memory that she would never forget even though there were times that she wished she would.

Regardless, Terezi was to this day is amazed that Vriska was not a complete jerk that day. She ended up sticking with her sister and Terezi tried doing the same. It would only be right even though they are starting to disagree on everything now. Still, Terezi respected Vriska just for all the (few) times she stood up for her. Yet, everyone of them was something that she always will remember. 

“Are we going to playing or what, Terezi? Stop standing there like an idiot.” Terezi broke out of her thoughts with a rough shove was given to her by Vriska. It made her lose her balance shortly but recovered fast. “Yeah. We are and we are going to win.” That wins approval from Vriska. The Serket smiles and a confident grin also lands on Aradia. Terezi haves a bad feeling those two are going to clash but hopes that they don’t do anything stupid. “Yea! Team Scourge Sisters!” Vriska shouts in excitement and gives Terezi a high five. Like the dork Terezi is, she purposely dodged the high five from Vriska. Terezi laughs and Vriska hits her arm. 

Tavros shakes his head at the sight and turns to Araida. “We should have a team name too.” Aradia nods her head in agreement. The lowblood looked to like the idea and wanted to have a cool name to compete against their visitors. “Charge? Team Charge?” She looks to Tavros for approval and he smiles and nods his head. “Yeah! It uh, sounds cool.” Vriska gives a face of disgust. “Team Charge? That’s a stupid name.” Terezi nods her head in agreement even if she meant it or not. Aradia shrugs her shoulder. “We are still going to win.” This makes Vriska shake her head and the game started to begin. 

Hours passed for the four young trolls. Everyone tries to catch her breath. They did a lot of running around that involved Vriska tripping twice, Tarvos landing on top of her, Terezi jumping from table to table, and Aradia broke some plates on a near by table. The trolls had made a mess and everyone lay around at the mess they created. It was a scene. They all had bruises and a few cuts on them from all of their rough playing. No one seems bothered by it though, and in fact, everyone looks happy. It was the most fun Terezi had in sweeps and she never wants it to end. 

Yet, it had to as they went back to the block they were going to sleep in. Tavros and Aradia decided to sleep with them. They wanted to spend more time with their new friends as they planned on leaving early in the night. It saddens Aradia and Tavros knowing that Terezi and Vriska would be leaving soon, but needed to go back. They did sneak out and it would only be a matter of time before someone founds out that they are not in the hive they should be in. 

Terezi lay down on the small pile and grins at Vriska as Aradia was getting a pile close to Terezi while Tarvos was closer to Vriska. The Serket was already falling asleep in her own pile as she was the most tired out of everyone else. So Vriska is tired and Terezi is still interested in staying up and talking to the two new trolls she just met. “So have you guys lived here forever?” Aradia nods her head. “Yeah! I love it here. There are a ton of fun things here.” She giggled and Tavros joined the conversation.

“Yeah. She’s right. We, uh, have a lot cool things that happen.” Terezi smiles with joy. “Cool! I want to stay here! I always knew that land was better.” Aradia is confused by the comment and asks a question. “What does that mean?” It was then that Terezi realized that they did not know they did not live on land. “Oh. We live on a ship. We are only staying here for a couple of days.” Tavros frowns and looks at Aradia, who returns the look back. They look disappointed at the news and Terezi does not blame them. She wants to stay on land with these guys too. Terezi wants to have fun on land forever and was almost tempted to stay there and never return to the ship. Vriska would rat her out though. She just knows it. 

“A ship? That sounds, uh, cool.” Tavros looks interested and Aradia looks like she was just trying to take everything in. “You guys live on a boat?” It was then that Vriska sits up and glares at Aradia. “No! It’s a ship! Not a boat. A HUGE ship. My ancestor is the Captain!” There is a frown that stays on Vriska’s face but Aradia did not seem to care about it. Instead Terezi just nods her head. “It’s a big ship. We are always at sea. We are going to have to go back soon.” Terezi let out a sad sigh and silence soon follows. “Uh, you’re ancestor is a Captain? That’s cool.” Tavros is interested at the news and Vriska is glad that someone appreciates the fact someone is interested. 

Yet, Terezi did not want to hear Vriska talk about Mindfang and would rather have another discussion. So Terezi tries moving the conversation to another direction. “What about you guys? Where are your ancestors?” Aradia shrugs her shoulders. “I have not seen mine in sweeps. She left me when I was two sweeps. I don’t know where she is or what she does. I don’t know if she is even alive. She never came back.” Terezi feel bad for even asking. She did not know that Aradia had lost contact. Maybe she was really just abandoned. “Sorry. I did not know. Uh...Mine died when I was a wiggler.” Vriska rolls her eyes and turns to Aradia. “She probably did not want you.” Terezi gasps and punches Vriska. She yelps in pain. Aradia frowns. “Why are you so mean?” 

Tavros sits on the floor nervously and Terezi is hoping that it Vriska does not say anything. However, nothing ever does her way and Vriska growls. “Mean? You think I am mean? You have not seen anything. My ancestor beats trolls like you. You should know your place.” Vriska gets close to Aradia and pushes her. “Hey!” Aradia looks offended and Terezi is trying her best to think of a way to get Vriska out of the mess she got into. She wonders why Vriska is being so rude to Aradia. She has done nothing wrong to Vriska but Vriska was being very mean. Terezi wants to keep theses trolls as friends. Her friend is not helping in the cause. “What?! It’s true!” Terezi glares at Vriska. “Stop. You are being a jerk, Vriska!” Vriska stands up and pushes Terezi to the ground. “Hey!” She is able to not fall over and stands up to glare at Vriska. 

Tavros and Aradia watches silently at what they were going to do. The girls both glare at each other and Vriska turns around and walks out of the room. Terezi starts to follow until Tavros speaks up. “Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea? She looks mad.” Terezi only stops for a second to look at him. She is starting to have some doubts but knows that she needs to go after Vriska. Terezi does not say anything but does back into following Vriska. She walks outside and it is still bright outside. Her skin is burning from the rays and she knows that Vriska must feel it too. Vriska still tries to walk in the sun but Terezi could tell that she is in pain. “Wait!” Terezi calls out and runs to her. Vriska does not look back and continues to walk. “Why don’t stay with your lowblood friends?! You like them more!” Vriska finally stops walking and Terezi stands there confused. 

“What? They are just nice. What’s your problem?” She glares at Vriska and the Serket walks back to her. “You are. You are the problem. I hate you!” Vriska shoves Terezi and this time the teal blood falls to the ground. Terezi grunts as she hit the hard ground. The light is blinding and Terezi is glad that she does not look at it long enough for it really happen. Instead, Vriska jumps on her and blocks some of the sun.

Terezi tries to push Vriska off of her but the real was always stronger than her. Before she could do anything, Terezi feels pressure on her lips. She lays there in complete shock. Vriska was kissing her. The Pyrope did not know what to do as Vriska kisses her very roughly. It was when Vriska realized that Terezi was not going to return it, that she broke it. There is an extremely awkward silence between them until Vriska slaps Terezi’s face. “AH! Stop! That’s hurts, you jerk!” Vriska frowns. “Duh! It should hurt. That’s how black works!” Terezi lays there and does not know what to say. Vriska could tell that Terezi is confuse and a rush of blood goes through Vriska. “You hate me?” Vriska growls and pinches Terezi to get her fueled as well.

“Yes! I hate you! Get a clue.” Even though Vriska was trying to act tough, she was really scared. Terrified. In her head, she kept telling herself that Terezi did not feel the same and the thought was killing her. It would also be embarrassing to know that Terezi might not feel the same. It would be weird if Terezi does not return the feelings but the next thing Vriska know is that she is getting push to the ground. 

Terezi stands up and Vriska is still on the ground. She looks up at Terezi with a mix of emotions. Mostly fear. She was scared that Terezi did not feel the same. If not, then Vriska was going to push Terezi black. “What?! You don’t hate me back?” Terezi does not say anything as Vriska stands back up. They stare at each other until Terezi pushes Vriska and that is when the chaos breaks out. Vriska tackles Terezi back to the ground and Terezi bites her arm. It did not break skin but caused some pain. “Ah! You are going to pay for that!” Terezi’s face is shoved into the dirt and some of it gets in her mouth. “Stop!” Vriska notices this and pushes Terezi’s face deeper into the dirt. “Only if you say I am better than you.” Vriska laughs and lifts Terezi head up. The sun is overpowering. In fact, it starts to sting her eyes.“You are hurting me!” Vriska realized what she was doing was beyond black and let go of Terezi before any damage could be done. 

“Sorry! I did not mean it.” Terezi shoves Vriska and she looks like a mess. Her clothes are dirty and Terezi is rubbing her eyes. The only thing that looks damaged is her pride. “You jerk! That’s not how black works! You could have blinded me!” Terezi frowns and Vriska stands there feeling bad for what she has done. She thought it was only playful black between them but Terezi did not look up to it. “I said sorry!” Vriska calls out to her and walks up to Terezi. Yet, the Pyrope is having none of it. Anger is going through her but not in the way that Vriska may want it to. “I’m going back inside to sleep. Just leave me alone!” Vriska keeps a sad expression on her face and guilt follows her emotions. She takes her time going inside and it is awkward.

Aradia glances between the two girls and Tavros is already laying down. He want to sleep the moment he could and Aradia does not say anything as Terezi hides in her own pile. Vriska walks closer and goes to her temporary pile and lays down. She bites her lip knowing that she messed up. Tears are quietly running around down her face as she did not want anyone to see her. It makes her wonder on if how this was what Terezi felt like when she cried herself to sleep throughout the sweeps. 

It was hours later that Terezi wakes up. For once, Terezi is awake first and shoves Vriska awake. Vriska groans at the contact. 

“No...leave me alone...’m tired.” Vriska tries to go deeper inside the pile. Terezi crawls to Vriska and sits next the girl. Terezi is shockingly not that mad. Like many young wigglers, she get over things fast. Though she is confused on how her own feelings to Vriska. She is not sure if she hates Vriska in that way, but that is not the problem at the time. “Get up. We need to go back to the town. We will get in trouble if we don’t hurry.” Vriska slowly sits up and stretches. She knows of what Terezi’s says its true. They need to get back before someone finds out that they are gone. It is the only motivation that gets Vriska up. Tavros and Aradia are still sleeping as they all slept late the day before. 

“Sleeeeeeeep.” Terezi stands up and pulls Vriska to her feet. She groans sadly and whines even more. Vriska does not say anything else though because she knows deep down that Terezi does not hate her. Yet, Terezi is will hate her soon. Vriska just needs to learn how to play this black game right, and Vriska will get what she wants.


	10. If We Had Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another game is played and accidents happen. It's not all that bad when Terezi haves another interesting meeting with an unexpected guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing good because I sadly got another stomach bug. D: blah. Yet, the good news is that while I was sick, I was able to lay around a lot and able to write this up! This chapter is longer than what we are normally getting just by a bit and will be one of the more plot moving chapters because we need this story to get going already! Thank you and enjoy.

Even though Terezi wants to stay and learn more about her mysterious ancestor, she could not. They both know that if they do not make it back in time before someone notices that they are gone, they will be in big trouble. That is the last that Terezi needs and so she pulls and drags Vriska to follow. Vriska could afford to get in trouble but not her. The last thing Terezi needs is getting a beating for Vriska’s idea and laziness. Shockingly enough, Vriska starts moving after a few seconds of Terezi yelling her to move faster. It was actually not that hard for them to sneak out the small village despite the fact that they had a large wall surrounding it. Terezi ends up finding a small hole near the gate and they crawl under it even though Vriska complains about getting dirty. That alone was a joke to Terezi because one look at Vriska and she would most of the time look like she has not bathed in nights just because of all the situations that they get themselves in. 

Still, Terezi is determined to make to back without getting caught. “Come on! We are going to get in trouble!” Vriska gives a fake yell. “What? No we wont. Captain will not find out. Calm down.” She rolls her eyes at Terezi as she was trying to keep up with her. Terezi is nearly running blindly as she almost forget where to go. She wants Vriska to lead the way just because she knows the way back but her so called friend is taking her sweet time keeping up with her. “Why are you making it so hard for me?!” Terezi stops and looks to Vriska. 

It is starting to get dark outside and it will only be minutes before someone is to check in their block to see how they are doing. Vriska is not helping the cause at all with her constant dragging. “Because! I am suppose to make it hard for you. Black! Remember?!” Terezi shakes her head. “No, Vriska we are not black. I don’t hate you.” A frown appears on Vriska’s face and it sticks. “Why?” It was a simple question and Terezi does not know what to say. She does not know how she feels about Vriska. There were sometimes Terezi wanted to take Vriska down to the ground and kiss her but she was not feeling that lately. Even if she wanted to, she can't see them the way Vriska wants it. Terezi does not know how she feels about it and she does not need Vriska pushing for it. “Let’s just go back to the hive.”

The answer was not something that Vriska wanted to hear because it was not even a real answer. Terezi is avoiding the question and they both know it. “Tell me,” her voice is stern and demanding. It sounds too much like Mindfang than Terezi would like. “I just don’t hate you! Just stop.” There is a glare from Terezi while the sad expression stays on Vriska. She looks hurt but still manages to keep eye contact with Terezi. She had to give her credit there. If Terezi was shut down in a relationship, she would not have had the courage to maintain eye contact because Vriska looks ready to cry. She does not cry though. Vriska does not say anything but instead just nods her head. “Ok…” 

(MUTINY)

Walking back was awkward. It was quiet but Terezi tried to make simple conversation with her. Vriska is not in the talkative mood for once and Terezi hopes that this attitude is only temporary. She hates the way things are working out between them. Terezi wants this to be avoided but things never go the way she plans. It still did not stop her from trying to cheer up Vriska because at one point Vriska was cleaning her tears away so that way Terezi would not see. Terezi saw though. She saw several times actually and they both know it. She does not point it out though because Vriska is very upset. Even if Terezi hates Vriska, she wouldn’t be able to be mean to her at the moment. It just seems wrong. “Look we’re here. Let’s go in before we get caught.” Vriska does not say anything but nods her head once they finally got the hive. 

Terezi quietly opens the door to the hive. There is no noise and Terezi signals Vriska that it is clear. No one is in the hallway. So far they look like they were in the clear and Terezi wants it stay that way. Terezi starts to walk inside and Vriska looks around. This was the important part of it; not getting caught. Getting in trouble would be horrible and something Terezi was not going to allow to happen to her. She made her way quickly to the stairs and made her way up. Vriska did so too and they managed to actually sneak inside the block. Vriska shoved Terezi inside and quietly closed the door. Terezi was ready to punch Vriska for that but Vriska was already running to pretend to be where she was supposed to be sleeping. Terezi was going to question her rush but the room opened and Terezi stood in the center of the room confused.

“What are you doing up so early, little dragon?” At least it was just the first mate. He never got mad at them often. It still made Terezi nervous as he looked at her with a questionable look as Vriska was pretending to still be sleeping. Terezi was annoyed that Vriska was not helping her out and knew she was on her own on this one. So she was going to work on her lying skills this night. Vriska was good at it. Why can’t she try it out more? “I heard noise and got scared.” Terezi gave a fake found of fear in her voice to make it more believable. Even Vriska, who was still pretending to sleep, was impressed with the show that Terezi was putting on. There was not a lot of times where Terezi would try to get away with trouble. It looks like Terezi as done with getting in trouble. She is going to lie her way to safety. 

It must be working as the first mate looks like he’s believing her. Though there is a flaw in her story. Both girls still have their sun cloaks on. It looks like they forgot to remove them in their cloaks in a rush. When he points it out, Vriska gets worried but still pretends to sleep. There is no way she was going to blow her cover. Then it would only prove that Terezi was lying and Vriska is counting on her to talk their way out of trouble. “We were playing yesterday and slept in them.” Terezi’s answer is fast to where it sounds believable and the first mate buys it. “Very well. I shall let you be. You look tired.” He points and Terezi can agree completely. “Get some rest. I will come back in a few her hours. Errands need to be run and you two are coming.” Terezi is not excited but just wants him out the block. “Ok.” He leaves the room and quietly closed the door behind him as he thought that Vriska was still sleeping. 

Vriska sits up quickly. It almost scares Terezi on how fast the other girls sits up. “Wow! Nice one. I thought we were caught.” There is a smile on Vriska’s face knowing that they got away. Terezi does not really care at the moment. She is beyond tried and does not know how Vriska sounds so awake when she was the one complaining about being tired. “Thanks. I’m going to sleep. I’m tired.” She makes her way to her pile and Vriska gets up. The Serket watches Terezi lay down and makes her way to her and lays down next to her. The action is something she did not see coming. She does not fight or question it though. Terezi closes her eyes and tries to relax, but she’s paranoid. She wonders what Vriska is up to.However, the Serket does nothing other than lays there. Terezi tries to do the same and after a couple of minutes, her muscles start to ease up.There was soft breathing coming from Vriska and Terezi does not bother to see if she is awake or not. She does not look her away and Terezi soon closes her eyes and starts to sleep. 

(MUTINY)

The awkwardness never goes away. Terezi finds herself starting to avoid Vriska. Yet, even the times she tries to talk to the girl, Vriska does not look eager to be around Terezi. They don’t know how to act around each other now. It was only four days ago the Terezi refused Vriska’s black advances. They are still young. Terezi feels that Vriska knows nothing about any kind of quadrant, and she does not have faith in the girl learning it properly anytime soon. Terezi was still upset about Vriska almost hurting her and getting rough when Terezi was obviously not returning the advance. Vriska does not stop though. Terezi notices that Vriska is more careful now. Vriska tries to get under Terezi’s skin still, and there is not much Terezi could do about it. She want to yell at her to stop but the things she does it so small that she can not complain about it. Vriska’s smart like that and Terezi acknowledges it. The Serket is trying to slowly push Terezi black even though that is something she is not interested in. 

Other than that, nothing special has been going on in her life. They spent their nights in town. The two young trolls help get supplies with the crew members that are on land. It was not fun and this promotes Vriska and Terezi to still get in trouble even though things are not great between them. Last night the girls ended up breaking an expensive small glass statue. It did not go unnoticed and the girls ended up surrounded by angry trolls. However, the underlings of Mindfang saw it unfold and quickly came to the rescue. A big brawl unfolded, and the girls were able to get away from the chaos. They giggled as the ran away but once everything was done with, they knew they were in trouble. Everyone was mad the them and now they were locked up in their block until Mindfang comes back to land to get them. 

That does stop the trouble making. Vriska and Terezi still continue to run off to the remote village in the forest. They love it there even though Vriska denies it every time. The smile on her face gives Vriska away, and Terezi dares to point it out. She knows that she is only encouraging Vriska to react in a manner that Terezi wanted to avoid. They still get along though. The emotions are unstable with them but they managed to keep a strong bond. They are forced to live with each other and so they might as well get along.

“I got it!” Terezi laughs loudly and keeps on running. Aradia is chasing her close behind and that makes her move her feet faster. Vriska is running into front of Terezi as Tavros was trying to cut them off from their left side. Terezi starts to run to the right and she could hear Aradia catching up to her. She starts to get nervous even though they are just playing. Terezi takes these games seriously as she was always out to win and she is glad that Vriska is the same way. The small ball is being held in Terezi’s hand as she knows that their opponents are trying to get it from her. Feeling that she is going to lose it, as Tavors and Aradia were too close to her she tosses up high. “Catch it!” Vriska sees the action and is able to jump high enough to get the ball. Team Charge tries to go after Vriska but the Serket was running mad. 

Terezi sees a grin on Vriska and she does not blame her. They were winning in their made up game. “Catch me if you can, suckers!” Everyone starts running to Vriska but no one can keep up with her. Vriska runs further into the forest and is managing to navigate through everything with ease. Terezi is stumbling to keep up, Aradia slows down to not fall over, and Tavros tries to keep up but nearly trips twice. 

Vriska is the only who is running through the thick vegetation with no trouble and Terezi is wondering how she is doing that. Terezi still manages to see Vriska in the distance and sprints once the trees lessen. Team Charge start falling behind and Terezi is sure they are going to win. “Over here Terezi!” Vriska calls out for her friend but only stops for a second when Terezi catches up with her. “Take it.” She tries to give it to Terezi but Aradia starts getting closer with Tavros a few feet behind. “Pretend you have it. Get them off me,” Vriska tells Terezi as she changed her mind on giving it to Terezi. The Pyrope goes with the plan and runs off, pretending to hold the ball. Vriska runs in the opposite direction as a means to confuse the other team. “Terezi has it!” Aradia shouts to Tavros but the boy could see Vriska with something. He is sure that Vriska has the ball and is right. Yet, Aradia is already following Terezi. “Wait! She…” Tavros does not see Aradia slowing down and he knows that he has to be the one to go after Vriska.

Terezi grins when she looks back and can see Aradia behind her. It looks like their plan was working until she notices that Tavros is not following. “You can’t get me!” Terezi starts laughing madly but causes her to run right into a tree. She grunts and falls right on her back. A groan comes from her as she does not move for a bit. Terezi can hear Aradia still running ti and soon the girl is standing over her. “Are you ok?” Terezi can see Aradia doing her best not to laugh and Terzi shakes her head even though she is really fine. “Tress hurt...” That is all Terezi can say as she feels stupid for running into a tree.It goes away quickly when Aradia extends her hand out and Terezi accepts it. She stands up quickly and dusts herself off. “Thanks. That really hurt.” Her world is shaking though and can hear a scream. There is screaming off in the distance. It’s a horrible shrieking noise that cause Terezi’s stomach to drop. She knows that it was Tavros and has no clue what is going on or where he was at.

Aradia looks terrified and starts running off in the direction she comes from. “Hey! Wait up!” Terezi calls out and knows that there is no way that Aradia was going to slow down if something was wrong. She was right. Aradia keeps running and Terezi follows even though he world is still spinning around her. Terezi keeps running as she keeps bumping into the nature around her . Aradia does not help her and Terezi does not blame her. If Vriska was in trouble, Terezi would help her sister despite what has been going on between them. Terezi soon catches up to the sight and is trying to figure out what was going on. “Tavros!” Aradia is calling out for him as she leaned over a cliff and Vriska is standing close by. Terezi is wondering what is going on and she runs up to where Aradia was at. She dared to look over the edge too and was not expecting Tavros to be laying at the bottom of the cliff. The is not moving and his legs looked oddly bent in angles it was not suppose to be in. There was blood on the floor around him and Terezi is sure that he is dead. There is no way anyone could have survived a fall like that.

“What did you do to him?!” Aradia runs up to Vriska with a deadly look and right away gets in the Serkets face. Vriska stands her ground and gets right back in Aradia’s face. They are glaring at each other and their faces are closer than Terezi would expect. If she did not know any better she would say that they were black for each other. However Aradia looks ready to kill, and if Tavros is dead, then Terezi does not blame her. Even though her and Vriska don’t get along perfect, she know that if any would hurt Vriska, Terezi would jump in to help her sister out. It would only be right after all.

“Back off!” Vriska roughly shoves Aradia back and the maroon blood moves back a lot. Terezi looks back over the edge and wonders how Tavros fell. It’s hard for her to think though with all of the shouting and yelling Aradia and Vriska are doing. “I didn’t do anything! He was the pupa who can’t take care of himself! Not my fault he fell.” Aradia looks offended by what Vriska says and shoves Vriska back for the earlier push. “Did he fall?! Or did you push him?!” It was Terezi’s turn to get upset. She is mad that Aradia would dare accuse her best friend of hurting someone on purpose. Tarvos is a good kid. He looked like him and Vriska were getting along well enough. So it would make any sense for Vriska do do something like that. 

Terezi walks right up to Aradia and stands near Vriska. “It was an accident. Leave her alone.” She is ready to defend Vriska and Terezi does so. It’s only right for them to look out for each other. Yet, the response that comes from Vriska is something that Terezi does not expect nor was it what she wants to hear. “He had it coming anyways.” 

“How could you say that?!” Aradia shouts at Vriska and Terezi glares at Vriska. Yet, Before anymore could be said a light groan comes out of no where. They all go quiet for a moment. Then there is another groan. “Tavros!” Aradia runs past Terezi and Vriska. Right away Terezi follows back the edge of the cliff and looks over. She squints her eyes and could see Tavros was indeed alive. His arm is moving slightly and so is his head. “Oh shit.” Terezi says and Aradia is moving once again. The maroon blood finds a safer way down using a less of a steep path. No one else follows. Aradia is still shouting out his name as she makes her way down. “Let’s get out of here, Terezi.

A hand grabs the Pyrope. Terezi looks to Vriska in shock that she wants them to leave. “We are not going to help?” Vriska keeps trying to pull Terezi along. She can still hear Aradia calling out for Tavros, and Terezi does not know what to do. Because she does not do much, Vriska continue to drag her away. “They don’t need our help.” Vriska states harshly. Terezi is still being pulled away from the incident as she does not fight Vriska from taking her away. She does not want to leave. Terezi is worried about Tavros even though they just met them a few nights ago.

(MUTINY)

Terezi eyes Vriska. “You’re lying. I know it.” Vriska groans and tries to shove food in her mouth to give her some time to not talk. The Serket wants to keep avoiding what happened a few hours ago. Yet, she has been keeping her mouth shut about the what occurred. It was still hot on Terezi’s mind and the girl was not forgetting anytime soon about it. She wants to know what really happened. As much as Terezi wants to defend Vriska, she knows how the girl really is. These things almost never happen by accident when Vriska is around. Terezi still wants to give Vriska the benefit of the doubt but she knows that she can’t.

“Whaaaaaaaat?! No way.” Vriska shakes her head and shrugs her shoulder. They sit at the table back at the hive they were staying at as Terezi is still trying to interrogate her friend. “Don’t be a jerk! You can tell me.” Terezi grins in a playful way. She is deep down serious about digging up the truth. Yet, if this was going to help her get a clue on what she was to do with Vriska. “Ok! ok! Listen. You know how the Captain got her handle? It’s cause she can get into troll’s minds! Guess who learned how to do it too.” Vriska grins back but Terezi’s falters. “Wha? When?! Wait...did you mind control him?” Terezi sits there in shock at what Vriska’s says. “Duh! He didn’t fall or jump. I was just helping him.” Vriska could see that her friend is disturbed and did not fully understand why. “Why?!” 

“He...was such a wimp!” 

“And?!” Terezi glares at Vriska when she hears a poor answer. The boy is a good guy even though he could sometimes be a bit of jerk. Yet, Tavros did always mean well and Terezi does not know what they will do once the village finds out. Terezi haves a bad feeling that they will never be allowed back there. She does not think about the fact that the villagers might want vengeance for what Vriska does and yet there is still no clear answer for Vriska’s action. That is what Terezi is trying to figure out. “Tavros was just….I don’t know. I just felt weird around him.” 

“Weird? How?” Terezi starts to eat again with interest now. Her appetite is almost nonexistent but the after a few moments it was starting to come back. “I just thought...he didn’t like me.” Terezi groans and throws her arms up. “Are you flush for him?!” Vriska nods her head. “You don’t hurt a troll you are flush for! I thought you didn’t like him. You were always bullying him.” Terezi comments and Vriska looks upset at Terezi. “I know! I just couldn’t help..it.” Terezi went back to losing her appetite. “First, you hurt me and then Tavros. Why are you so mean?” Vriska crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. “I’m not mean…” Her frown quickly moves to an expression of sadness along with a mix of realization. Terezi can see the hurt expression and she is amazed that Vriska did not want to be viewed in that way. Vriska is not happy with Terezi and shoves her. The girl falls to the girl on the floor and loud crashing. Terezi drags her food to the ground with her. “Ow! You jerk! I hate you!” Terezi shouts at Vriska and gets up quickly.

“Good! That’s what I wanted!” Vriska pushes Terezi again and the Pyrope had finally reach her end with Vriska. While Terezi was on her back she kicked Vriska harshly. Her foot landed near Vriska’s stomach. The Scorpio goes down and grunts in pain. Terezi stands up again quickly and runs. She runs out of the hive to the outside world. “Terezi!” Even though Vriska is yelling for her, Terezi runs away from Vriska. She is mad at Vriska and herself for being friends with her. This is all Vriska’s fault. There is no doubt about that on her mind and Terezi knows that things were not going to go smooth once they are found. Terezi is not sure if the villagers would dare try to go into the town that they are taking shelter at. 

Oddly enough, Terezi find herself running to the village. She does not know why but a part of her wants to try and defend Vriska. Her friend made a huge mistake and Terezi feels that it is up to her to fix what Vriska had broke. So she runs all the way to the village and she never hears Vriska follows. Terezi does not blame her though. If she did something like that, she would never show her face around that place in fear of being killed. Terezi is not a coward but no one in their right mind would go where they would get slaughter. The next thing she knows is her finding herself in village once again. Right away she was getting stares and glares. Terezi does not get to walk far in until she is snatched up by guards and was dragged to the older troll she had first met in the village. The same one who knew her ancestor but Terezi is scared now. She wants to trust them but they can’t after what Vriska did. Terezi is terrified when she stands in the moonlight near the entrance of the largest building. “I didn’t do anything!” 

The older lets out a sigh when he sees Terezi struggling now. She hates how she can not get away as they guards are hold her tightly. “You are not in trouble. I just wish to hear your side of the story.” He looks around and Terezi is wondering what he is trying to see. “Where is your friend?” Terezi stops struggling and tries to think on what she is going to say. “I don’t know where she is. Vriska did mean it.” She is not sure why she lied but she did. Terezi still can’t get herself to give her friend away completely. She wants everyone to think that it was one huge accident. “Tavros says otherwise. He states that Vriska did it on purpose.” Terezi knows that the gig is up. There is no way that they are buying her story. Everyone knows. Vriska almost killed the boy on purpose and she is starting to regret it. “She didn’t mean it…” The troll looks at Terezi and nods her head. “You are really do care about her. Not a lot of troll your age would still be defensive for a friend. Come with me.” He turns around and she feels the grip of her arm loosen and Terezi wonders where they are going. 

“I must acknowledge that you are looking out for your friend. It must be a challenge to have to always look out for another troll.” Terezi walks up to the side of the troll with the guards no longer holding her. “Yeah.” Terezi can’t help but agree at the thought of all the times she got in trouble because of Vriska. “That’s very nice of you. I also understand that it must be hard with little guidance.” To Terezi it meant no guidance. A chill runs through her body and she does not know why. “Growing up without an ancestor must have been hard but allow me to help you.” They start to walk and talk but Terezi is not impress. “I don’t need an ancestor. I’m fine.” The older troll laughs lightly. “I wish not to replace. No. I am not even referring to myself.” Terezi gives him a questionable look as she starts to hear noise from the distance. A noise she has never heard before. “No. I think you need help just like your ancestor did. Let me explain that the few times that she came back was not to visit for fun. She had a purpose for return. Similar to you.” The noise is louder and it sounds...like a beast? “There is a reason why we live so far off and there is also a reason why your ancestor was a constant visitor over the sweeps.” Terezi feels thrown off by what he says but the sudden loud roar out of the dark sky scares her. Her ear ring from the loudness and covers them as she looks to the ground as the dirt around them move because of the air around them moving. Terezi glances up and could feel something behind her. With hesitation, she turns around and finds herself face to face with a real living dragon. 

“Whoa.”


	11. Another Tale Closed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska haves a run in with dragon. She then later haves a talk with Terezi as they are soon ready to leave back out to sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a long break from writing and was able to get something up! Things are going to start moving faster in the next chapter and I hope you guys are ready for what's to come. Anyone want to play "Guess who they are going to meet next" game.

"Ah! Is that..?! Dragon!" A living dragon is actually standing before her. A humongous one at that. Intimidation is the simplest word to describe what Terezi is going through. The deadliness of the dragon makes Terezi wonder how she is not eaten yet. The rough scales look nothing like her scalemate and the dragon is way too close to Terezi. The hot breath from the dragon was nothing she was used to as Terezi was used to the cool sea air that she was always exposed to. She has never seen a real dragon and...this one is clearly full grown! This dragon is not what she thought she would be coming across. So she stands there in shock and the older troll walks up closer to her. “Fear not. Pyralspite means no harm unless you are harm.” Terezi does not turn around but just stares at the dragon. Moments later, she screams. “DRAGON?! How?” She wants to run but can’t and instead falls backward. Terezi yelps and feels even smaller as the dragon moves closer to her. “Stay calm. Stay calm. Pyralspite means no harm. Look. Get a good look at her.” She does not move for a while but does stare at the beast. The longer she looks the more comfortable she starts to feel. Terezi eventually stands up. Terezi tries to keep her distance, but she soon finds herself moving closer and soon reached out to touch the dragon. 

Her breathing slows down even more as the dragon smells her. Soon, Terezi’s anxiety starts to relax. Her hands are still shaking in fear even though Pyralspite is not being hostile. Terezi finds it somewhere in herself to pet the dragon. The scales were rough as she thought they would be, and yet she is still surprise. The warmth from the breath of the dragon is oddly almost calming now instead of burning. Terezi is not sure what it is about Pyralspite that makes her nerves relax, but she feels that there is some reason behind it. “Oh...nice dragon…” Terezi haves a nervous smile placed on her mouth. The dragon looks like she is watching Terezi carefully but in a nonthreatening way. They both seem curious of each other. 

Terezi soon smiles naturally and Pyralspite continues to sniffs her. The action catches her attention and Terezi copies the action. She sniffs too and it must look like a sight. A little troll trying to smell a gigantic dragon. Vriska would never believe this. “Good to see that you two are getting along.” The older troll comments. Terezi nods her head quickly and went back to trying to sniff the dragon. Her senses are nothing special and so she does not catch much with her nose. “Dragons are real…” That much she knew. A dragon is right before her and there is no way that this is fake to her. Pyralspite soon licks Terezi and that causes the girl to giggle. The saliva drips everywhere. It is now on her clothing and face but she does not mind at all. She is calm now even though the size of the dragon is still alarming. “My ancestor had a dragon?” Terezi looks to the older troll but he shakes his head. “No. oh no. Pyralspite has always lived in the area. When our people first settled in the area, we were unaware that we have trespassed in a dragon’s territory. Pyralspite accepted us though. So we respect the land and keep to ourselves as to not disturb the surrounding nature. When Redglare first came, she also met Pyralspite. Just like you, she also got along with the dragon.” He stop talking for a moment to look at the dragon. “I have a feeling she knows that you are connected to Redglare, your ancestor.” Terezi stares at the dragon and knows that tonight was going to change all because of this discovery. 

Terezi grins at the comment. She is starting to feel more comfortable being around a living dragon. She confidently pets the dragon and is proud to have Redglare's blood. Her ancestor must have been cool. Mindfang is a pirate but that's nothing compared to knowing a dragon. To Terezi a dragon beats a ship any night. She just wonders where her friend Vriska is.

“Where’d she goooooooo?! Terezi! Come out!” Vriska yells at the top of her lungs but knows that she is not going to get a response. She is stumbling through the dark of the night but it is not trouble for a troll. Her biggest trouble is her trying to find Terezi. When the girl ran off, Vriska was in shock for a while. It finally set in and she finally got up to go look for her friend. Vriska is not rushing though. She is still confused and shock about everything. Vriska does not know how to feel about anything anymore. Terezi is not returning the aggressiveness that she was hoping for and forcing Tavros over a cliff is not the best way to win anyone over. Vriska will be the first to admit that.

She was still new to the game of love and hate. Of course she was going to suck at first! Don't most trolls struggle with their first quadrants. It is not like she is doing anything wrong. She is learning just like everyone else. So what if some people got a little hurt on the way?! Vriska knows that only the tough survive and that is who she is! This is Alterina. If a troll can't survive on the home planet then they have no business living at all. At least that was something she had always been taught by her ancestor. Vriska is ashamed that Terezi is not following the exact same mindset as hers. They would get along so much better if they did.

"Terezi!" She calls for her friend out again as she finds herself getting closer to the remote village. Vriska does not get too close though. She haves a strong feeling that the trolls there will kill the second they see her. To play it safe Vriska lingers in the outside of the village. The forest is able to hide her appearance and that gives her a feeling of safety. She crouches down behind a tree as she tried to come up with a plan. However her planning is interrupted by the sight of a large dragon swooping down in the center of the village. Vriska yelps in fear and stays hidden in the shadows. The walls cover the sight of the dragon but the sight that she once saw had already impacted her mind. Vriska was still trying to comprehend what she just saw. It was hard for it to click in her brain. Dragons were not suppose to be real. Now she really didn't want to move from her spot. She couldn't. Vriska was scared for once in her short life. 

She did have a choice this time though. Within the walls of the village was the sound of flapping and the dragon was back in sight. Vriska stays silent. She hopes that the dragon will leave and not come back while she hides. Her luck is low tonight though. The dragon soars up high and flies and the area for a while. She could see the white dragon stick out in the dark sky. Even as Vriska hides in far she can not help but to admire the white beast. She is amazed and pokes her head out of the edge of the forest to get a better look. Vriska grins wickedly at the dragon and for a split second the dragon makes eye contact. Her grin fades quickly. Vriska is quickly replaced with fear at the sight. The dragon does not hesitate to swoop down at her. Vriska panics and tries to hide back in the trees. The dragon is fast though. Too fast. Vriska did not even take one step into the forest before the dragon is breathing down her neck. She is shaking in her boots and slowly turns around to come face to face with the dragon. Vriska is unknowingly wise and avoids eye contact with the dangerous beast. 

Terezi is the next thing that Vriska sees. A few other trolls are following close behind her as they might not want Terezi to run off until everything got solved. Vriska does not know how to react. Trolls are coming to her and a large dragon is in front of her. The tough Serket actually wants to cry in fear. No one can blame her really. “Vriska!” Terezi runs up next to Pyralspite and stand besides the dragon. “I see you met Pyralspite.” There is a dumb grin on Terezi’s face that made her want to punch her. “Cool, huh?” Vriska just shakes her head as a couple of the trolls from the village catch up with them. She knows that she is not going to get away this time. For once Vriska is going to have to pay for her trouble making and she does not know how to feel about that. 

They were not rough with her luckily. Vriska was asked nicely to go inside the village and it was not a choice. With a large dragon near her there was no way she was going to get away and everyone knew that. Vriska frowns and Terezi follows back into the village with a dragon watching them from above. They are taken into a smaller room that was well kept. It looks like an office but is not anything fancy. Terezi is grinning but Vriska can tell right away that it is fake. If it was real then she would have punched her friend. She does not care if there are older trolls with them. Vriska would hit her friend if she haves. Her thoughts are quickly shifted into the trolls standing in front of them. She is not used to being in the hot seat and Vriska is now stuck in this mess while Terezi stands there almost unfazed. That sure is annoying her at the moment. “Vriska. I don’t wish to accuse you of any wrongdoing.” Terezi snorts and Vriska roughly punches her and that does not help her case. “Could you care to state your side of the story?” There is a slight moment of hesitation for Vriska and Terezi catches it. “They know.” Terezi whispers to her to warn her. There is no point in lying. Everyone knows what is going on. Every single troll knows that Vriska did it on purpose. That still was not going to stop her from saving her own skin. “It was an accident. I didn’t do anything.”

Terezi cuts in and adds her own comment in it. “You mind controlled him.” Vriska glares at her and Terezi is wise to move a few feet away from her. Terezi knows that she is not helping her friend. She is confident that things would overall end well. They don’t know that though. This is all a big risk. If they want to kill them then they would get away with it. All of the trolls there are still strangers in the end. Terezi and Vriska are outnumbered by them and it could end badly for them. “The powers are new...I can’t control it right. It’s an accident.” She makes her statement and Vriska is hoping that the lie will be bought. Terezi raises her eyebrow and is interested to what her friend is going to say. A fine lie. If Vriska was older then she would be a great criminal. Terezi makes a mental note to make sure her friend loosens up on the trouble making after this. “I didn’t mean to mind control. I’m not used to it.” Vriska stands her ground and the troll in front of her is studying her. He is trying to see if she is lying or not. Terezi can tell that he is looking over any hint of lie but if Terezi did not know Vriska, she would think that she was telling the truth. It was a natural talent that Vriska carries that she knows that Mindfang nurtured. It sickens Terezi to think that Vriska’s skills will be the death of her if she is not careful. That is something she wants to avoid in the end.

“Tavros will be fine the end. However your actions caused a serious physical disadvantage to him. If he were to leave he would be culled. Since both of you are not members of this village, you are no longer welcomed here. I believe that is fair enough.” Terezi will admit that she is disappointed. She likes it here in this small village. She met some nice trolls here and a real dragon. Yet it had to get ruined by Vriska. Being bitter about this is tempting as Vriska tends to make things hard for Terezi a lot of the time knowingly and unknowingly. The truth was that she was hoping for Vriska to get in trouble, yes. However, she was hoping not to placed in the same category with Vriska because it looks like they are both being banned. “Me too?! Why? Vriska said she she did it.” By then Vriska did not really care as she knows for sure that she is getting away with the crime. At least they can leave the place peacefully. That is all Vriska wants. She does not need Mindfang coming to save her and then yell at her. This kind of works outs in the end for her. She was never a big fan of the place to start with. So this, in the end, is not a real punishment for her but ends up to be for Terezi. 

“It is for our safety that outsiders are to stay out. We first allowed you in to take both of you away from the dangers that are in nature. That trust is broken and any hope for any other troll to be led inside here is gone.” The older trolls try to explain as Terezi is giving Vriska a look of disappointment. Vriska is smart to not keep making eye contact with her friend. She knows that Terezi is mad with her and it was going to stay that way for some time. 

So they were kicked out...permanently. Terezi did not even get to say goodbye to Tavros or Aradia. When they wanted them out and fast. She did even get to see the dragon one last time before leaving and that was what upset her the most. She was coming so close to finding more about her ancestor and Vriska does something stupid that causes both of them to get in trouble and now she will never know. They are already walking back to the town as they needed to be back already. The would be returning soon and that does not help Terezi’s mood one bit. The smug grin on Vriska makes Terezi hate her life even more than ever. “Soooooooo, you hate me now?” Vriska questions and Terezi is so close to running away and never returning. She questions why she has not done it yet actually. “Yeah. I do. Just not in the way you want it though.” Vriska rolls her eyes and throws her arm around Terezi. The Pyrope does not even want to look at Vriska at the moment. Vriska and sense it but pretends to ignore it. “Come on! It was kinda funny! Right? Say it, Terezi. Funny.” 

“No! You get to be around your ancestor. I don’t. This was my chance and you messed it up again! Just leave me alone.” Vriska looks hurt for quickly. She always viewed Terezi as her best buddy and did not like seeing her mad at her. It pains her to see Terezi wanting to avoid her now even though she should have seen this coming. Vriska was making decent strides to improving her behavior and this was just one of those slip ups that costed them both. Yet, Vriska would be the first to admit that Terezi tends to always be on the receiving end. She wants to make it up to her friend but doesn't know how and night not even deliver in the end. "Sorry. I'm so sorry Terezi. Can you find it in your blood pusher to forgive me?" She almost sounds sarcastic but even Terezi knows that there is honesty in her tone. Her ears are trained to every wave to Vriska’s voice and she did not even have to try. “No. Why should I?”

Vriska groans and keeps on walking to the edge of the town. “Cause we are friends?” Terezi laughs at the comment and Vriska looks annoyed. “I thought you were mad.” 

“I am. Doesn't mean I can’t laugh at how stupid you sound!” Terezi grins and walks faster to leave Vriska behind. The laughter does not last long. She keeps walking back to the town they were stuck in as they can no longer go back to the remote village. “Jerk…” Terezi hears Vriska mumble a few more words but can not make it out. “Don’t expect me to apologize next time then!” Terezi shrugs her shoulders uncaring and decides not to argue with Vriska. She saw no point in it. “Ok.” Yet, this seems to anger Vriska even more. “Good! Your such a loser anyways. I don’t know why I’m your friend.”

“Gee Vriska. It could be because your shitty personality can’t help you make friends.” Vriska looks mad and Terezi could see a slight tint of Vriska’s blood showing on her cheeks. “Shut up! I’m your only friend!” Terezi glared at Vriska and prompt her to stop walking. “Because you almost killed one and I’m not allowed to see Aradia anymore. You’re so selfish!” Vriska gets up to Terezi’s face and Terezi glares back at her. “They weren’t your friends!” For a moment they just stared at each other until Terezi shoved Vriska back. “I’m only your friend because I feel bad for you!” Vriska managed to keep her balance and was ready to push Terezi back. Terezi was not sure what was hold Vriska back because the Serket only just got back in her face. “I hate you!” Terezi was going to say something back but the next thing she knows was Vriska grabbing the front of her shirt and forcing her into a kiss. The move was unexpected and Terezi felt her face get hot. Her nerves were shot at the action and Terezi froze as Vriska kissed her. 

Vriska only stopped once she realized that Terezi was just standing there. It took a few seconds before the Serket decided to pull away even though she caught on faster than she should have. “What the fuck was that for?!” Terezi’s delayed reaction made Vriska know that they both knew what was going on. “Don’t act surprise.” There is a smug grin on Vriska’s face that Terezi wants to wipe off. She hates the look with a passion and realizes what was going on her mind. Hate. She could not hate Vriska. She never thought that it was possible but she is slowly getting caught in her spider web. The thought ends up angering Terezi and she gets back in Vriska’s face this time. Neither of them say anything but the grin on Vriska’s face, and the clear anger on Terezi’s, was a sign to Vriska that she won. She can not say that this was all some mastermind plan but she would not mind claiming it to be after this . 

Vriska gives a quick kiss and runs off into the town as she laughs like a maniac. Terezi flinches and tries to tackle Vriska the Serket managed to dodge the attack. Terezi lands right on her face with a thud. Vriska only slows down to look back and continues to run off. The laughter coming from Vriska strings Terezi more than the fall. By the time she get up, Vriska is already long gone. Terezi sees no point in chasing her and dusts herself off. She was still trying to understand what just happened. Vriska kissed her...twice and provoked black feeling from her. Terezi had to admit that she never saw this coming and was feeling hatred towards Vriska for everything she has caused. Terezi did not plan on letting this slide. She was definitely going to get Vriska back for all the trouble Vriska got her into. She did not just was just doing that just for that night but for all the sweeps Vriska had knowingly inflicted. They will both be turning six soon and Terezi feels that her time is coming. She just needs to be careful about how she goes about it because she still needs to not get in trouble. Terezi will get in trouble if she does not meet up with Vriska again quickly. They were supposed to stick together.

Luckily Terezi does catch up. Mindfang’s ship had just docked and Vriska was just walking on the deck. Once she just on the ship she can see the crew laughing and talking. Terezi knew that was a sign of victory. “Vriska! Terezi! Get over here!” The sudden call out of her name made Terezi look around. The voice belong to Mindfang and she turns around and sees her coming out from the bottom part of the ship. Vriska does not hesitate to answer to the call and Terezi rolls her eyes at her friend’s eagerness. Terezi does listen to the call moments later and Vriska is smiling and only sticks her tongue out at Terezi when Mindfang was not looking. “Good news! We were successful on our war against the Navy! The fools did not see it coming and we have even earned many rewards. It was a mighty victory that you two will surely experience when you are older.” Vriska nods her head at the thought. “Yeah! I am a pirate! I can fight anyone for you!” Terezi makes a face of disgust and stays quiet. She sees no point in saying anything as the talk of being a pirate was always a boring topic to her. “Soon Vriska! Do not be so ready to jump. We can’t have a pirate that does not think but you are one step slower. I think both of you are going to be ready for your first raid soon. We will pick an easy target or you two.” Vriska groans but knows that it is better than nothing. “So what chaos did you trouble makers unleashed on land this time? No trouble with slavers this time, I assume?”

Terezi smiles and sees this is her chance to change the topic. “I played with a dragon!” She speaks up quickly but a second later , Mindfang laughs. “Oh hush Terezi. There is no such creature. You should grow up faster like Vriska because your little imagination won’t protect you at sea.” Mindfang roughly pats Terezi’s head before walking off after hearing the ridiculous comment from the Pyrope. Vriska shrugs her shoulders and, for some reason, follows Mindfang after shoving Terezi out of her way. Terezi stands there and looks around in the sky in hopes to see the dragon again. None was in sight and Terezi is sadden by it. It is real and even Vriska knows it. She knows that her new friend is real and can protect her from what the sea had to offer.

 

“Wanna bet?”


	12. New ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska are now six sweeps old and back at sea! They are now changing into bratty teens and are ready to cause trouble like they never had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was able to get this up faster than I thought I would. Updates may come up more frequent the next two months due to the pause time in between my semesters. Yea! In case you are curious to know how long this will be, I suspect this story will about 20-25 chapters. It depends on how many filler chapters I will put up. After this, I do plan on writing another fic in the new year! However, I will also be working some other unfinished fics. That's it for now and enjoy!

“AH! You shit! You hit me with a stupid fuckin’ shoe! Who even does that?!” Vriska yells and picks up the shoe and throws it back at Terezi. The Pyrope laughs and ducks a moment before the shoe went flying at her. The shoe hits the wall behind her and Terezi keeps on laughing at her. “Hahaha! You started it. I’m just ending it loser!” Terezi picks the shoe again and throws it hard at Vriska without hesitation. The Serket is ready this time and Vriska catches it with no trouble. “You’re the loser!” The catch hurt Vriska’s hands as the throw was hard but she is not going to complain. She will not look weak in front of Terezi. “Ha! You suck at throwing! It’s kind of a joke. Just like your life!” Vriska laughs at her own joke. Terezi does seem amuse and the six sweep troll runs to Vriska. The Serket throws the shoe at Terezi once she gets too close. It hits her right in the face and Terezi goes down quickly while screaming out in pain.

“Calm down. I didn’t throw it that hard. You’re such a wiggler.” Vriska crosses her arms over her chest and watches Terezi sit on the floor. “You did! Why would you throw it at my face you jerk?!” Terezi stands up and is covering her nose. Vriska pushes her friend’s hand out of the way and studies her face. There is only a red spot on her and no bleeding. “Stop crying. You’re fine! You cry about everything Terezi. You need tougher skin. You should be glad that I am here to help you out or else you would be at the lower part of the ship as one of the many pathetic slaves.” Terezi rubs where she got hit and moves Vriska’s hand out of the way. “Yeah right. I would have ran away a long time ago if you weren’t here.” The comment makes Vriska curious. “Would you really?” 

Terezi nods her head and does her best to keep her grin from appearing. “Yeah. Now I know that you never listen to me. Don’t you hear all the times I complain. I hate it here. I don’t want to be a pirate like you.” Vriska already knows this but never could wrap her mind around the thought. “Just because you are not a natural born pirate like me, does not mean you can’t become one!” Vriska lightly hits her shoulder and Terezi does not react to the hit. It was too playful for her to count as a kismesis hit. A secret relationship that they are keeping between them. They do not know how anyone would react to it so Vriska insisted to keep it hidden. Terezi never argued and played along with it. The relationship started after they boarded the ship after their adventure on land and now it was a sweep later. They are now six sweeps old and are a couple of trouble makers. 

Their pranks and destruction had earned them many punishments over the last sweep. Yet, they were at the age where they did not care and kept up the anarchy. Mindfang was at her wits end with them and was regretting that she allowed them to be close to each other. She has caught them several times daring each other on who could do the stupidest thing. One night, Mindfang had caught Vriska trying launch herself the water by using a cannon. Luckily she had stepped in before her descendant could kill herself by accident. When questioned on why she was going to do it, Vriska told her that Terezi had challenged her to do it. Mindfang later questioned Terezi, who had denied it and basically explained that Vriska was just insane and needed to be thrown overboard anyways. As much as Marquise wanted to punish both of them, in the end they did not do any harm and just warned them. She knew that they were doing it on purpose now. It was a test to see who could get away with the most trouble and it was driving Mindfang crazy. That was why Terezi and Vriska were in their block. She told them to stay in there and not to kill each other. The last one might not work out.

“Terezi.”

“Yeah?”

Vriska keeps a straight face. She is ready to ask a serious question and Terezi returns the expression. “Why are you so stupid?” 

“Cause I’m around you so much!” Terezi states and makes her way to Vriska’s fake treasure chest. They shared it but Vriska claims it as her own. It was not as if Terezi cared. She only uses it to keep her toys off the floor. Though, Seeing Vriska slip and fall on a ball one time was a huge laugh to her. “Whatever! I am still going to a Captain one night. Would a stupid troll be a Captain?!” Terezi stands up straight and thinks for a moment. “Yes! Mindfang is a good example!” She laughs and Vriska is furious with the comment. Terezi is an observant one. She mastered the art of getting under peoples skin. “You shouldn’t talk about the Captain like!”

Terezi giggles knowing that Vriska does not have a come back. She wants to see how much she could get away with this.“So! I don’t care.” Vriska growls and looks around for something to throw at Terezi. There is nothing close by her other than the shoe. She picks it up and throws it again but Terezi is ready. She ducks and it misses her. Vriska is mad that she missed her target. “I’m telling the Captain!” Terezi rolls her eyes and takes out her scalemate. “Fine. Go cry to her like the wiggler like you.” There is nothing but complete anger on Vriska’s face and Terezi is sure they are going to end up making out again in black. Terezi finds it more enjoyable than she thought she would. She had been trying to trigger the hate from Vriska now as it was fun even though Terezi was not interested at first. 

 

“At least my ancestor is alive!”

However, Vriska does not know when to stop.

Terezi felt her mood shift to sadness as she feels genuinely hurt by what was said. She already knows that Redglare is dead. She does not need a reminder of that. It hurts to see trolls around their ancestor and for her to not have one. There are few things that can hurt Terezi’s feeling but bring up her dead ancestor was a sure one to make her cry. Terezi does her best to not start crying in front of Vriska now. She already starts feeling her face getting hot as her eyes are getting watery. Terezi avoid eye contact with Vriska but her friend notices. Vriska wants to throw herself over the ship because even though Terezi is trying not to show it, she is clearly upset and the silence was not helping. Terezi starts squeezing the scalemate for comfort and she starts to silently cry. “Hey...I didn’t mean that. Sorry. I went to far there.” She walks up to her friend but Terezi turns her back on Vriska. This is not the first, or last, time that Vriska has messed up. “I said sorry.” Terezi did not look like she was budging as she continues to try and stop crying.

“Ok! Uhhh, how about this? I will let you hit me as hard as you can and I won’t hit you back. Promise!” Terezi looks to her friend and thinks about the suggestion. Vriska sees this and tries to get her to feel better. Vriska stretches her arms out and closes her eyes shut. “Good ahead. Do it! I’m ready!” She is bracing for an impact but it never happens. Vriska opens her eyes again and sees Terezi just staring at her. “No. I’m fine.” She shakes her head and Vriska places her arms down in slight relief that she is not going to get hit. “Yah sure? We cool? The scourge sisters all happy now? No bad blood?” Terezi does not say anything and Vriska groans. “Come ooooooooon! Don’t be that way. I said sorry already.” Terezi looks at her scalemate and tosses it to the floor. Vriska does not know what the action means as she is sure that Terezi is in love with the toy. She would not be surprise if Terezi is more interested in the toy than her. “It's fine. We’re good.”

Terezi speaks up finally and Vriska is glad that her friend had stopped crying. “Really?! Cool! That’s my sister! See. It was all just a big misunderstanding.” Vriska grins and Terezi nods her head. “Yeah. It was.” Right after she says that, Terezi uppercuts Vriska right in the stomach and knocks the wind out of her. Vriska gasps for air and falls to the ground yelling in pain. “AH! What the fuck?!” Terezi starts running the door and Vriska stumble to her feet to catch up. Vriska lands flat on her face and gets up with a blush on her face. Terezi does not see it as she runs in fear of Vriska coming and she should. Vriska is right on her tail and is sprinting to catch up with her new kismesis. They run on deck as they are avoiding crew members who are dodging the two girls. A few yell at them and it is only the lower crew members and slaves that do not do anything about the girls running around. Terezi is aware they are making a mess but she is trying to avoid Vriska as she hears her friend only a few feet behind her. It scares her and that is her motivation to run even faster. Terezi is running to the ropes, that are dangerously hanging loosely on the ship, and tries to grab to climb up. She successes and starts going up but Vriska is by her soon enough and tries to pull her down by her leg. Terezi holds on for her dear life and starts to feel her pants slipping and so see lets go of the rope. She lands on deck for a short moment before Vriska starts punching her lightly.”You hit me hard!” Terezi falls to the floor and Vriska goes down with her to keep up her not so aggressive attacks. “It was your idea!” Terezi tries to get up but Vriska is holding her down. “You did it when I was not expecting it.” Vriska punches Terezi’s arm and the girl yells and tries to push Vriska off of her. They do this for another ten seconds before two crew members come and pull them apart. “Don’t cause trouble on deck brats. Go bother someone else!” Terezi and Vriska get to their feet before getting shoved. Vriska does not take this lightly and tries to look tough. Terezi decides to sit this one out and watch what Vriska does. “I’m going to be a Captain one night. You better watch out! I could have you walking the plank.” The older trolls don’t seem intimidated by Vriska as they brush her off. “You’re not even are pirate yet. Just get the fuck off the decks.” Terezi shakes her head at Vriska’s comment. She wishes that her friend would just keep her mouth shut. “Am too! I’m going to be your Captain one night and you will be sorry when that time comes.” The crew laughs and Vriska keeps frowning as they walk away with their hearty laughter still following them. Terezi stands there and could tell that Vriska is not happy. “Why are they laughing? I am a pirate! I’m going to be a great Captain soon. I’m already learning how to navigate the ship and I-”

“I think they are just being jerks Vriska. Stop whining about it.” Terezi cuts her off and Vriska looks upset still. “I’m going to show them who’s boss.” There is determination on Vriska and that scares Terezi because she knows she will be involved somehow. “What shit are you planning now? I’m too young to get caught up in your criminal organization.” Vriska snorts and starts walking to the stairs to enter the lower half of the ship. “What are you talking about? You’re on a boat with pirates. Too late Terezi! Tooooooo late.” Terezi follows and knows that Vriska is right in a way. “I didn’t really have a choice. That does not count.” 

“Whatever! The point is that we are going to teach that jerk a lesson.” There is a sense of revenge in Vriska’s voice that makes Terezi want to jump off the ship and swim far away. The only problem was that he swimming skills were poor at best. Which is ironic as they are always at sea and if anything were to happen, Terezi would have wished to take her swimming lessons more seriously. By swimming lessons, it was really just being thrown over the ship in shallow waters and did not have any help. Vriska panicked at first but started to just flat in the water. While Terezi was trashing and cling to Vriska. The Pyrope kept pulling Vriska further into the water that angered Vriska. As a result, there was yelling and screaming with the girl until Mindfang had enough of it and commanded some trolls to get them back on the ship.

“Vriska, you are going to get me in trouble….again. You know what?! I don’t care! What stupid idea did you have in mind? Tell me so that way I could laugh at it and still help.” Vriska makes her way further in the ship as she pushes past other trolls with Terezi still complaining. The Pyrope bumps into a slave and keeps on walking until the troll glares at her. Terezi catches it and stops for a short moment. Vriska looks back and sees her friend looking at the troll. “Hurry up! Stop messing around, Terezi.” There is a moment where Terezi finds herself staring at the slave. The glaring looked had a personal feel to it with as Terezi is sure she had never seen her. 

The troll is a slave. Terezi runs into many of them and this one does not stick out in anyway. The troll is clearly a brown blood just by looking at the eyes. She can think of why she is getting that look but Vriska pulls Terezi away. Terezi complies and keeps on walking. The troll went on with what they were doing as Terezi frowns. “What was that about?” Vriska questions. “I don’t know. I never did anything to them. Not that I remember!” Terezi find them walking into the mess hall area. “Don’t think about it Terezi. They were probably pissy about their shitty lives.” Terezi giggles at the comment watches Vriska gathering food. “Vriska, what are you doing? That crap is rotten. Are you going to eat that or what?” Vriska shoves the molding food to Terezi. “No you idiot. It’s pay back. We are going to get him back for not thinking of me as a pirate.” As much as Terezi does not mind causing trouble she sees a lot of flaws with this plan. Messing with the crew never ends well as some do not care that Mindfang looks out for them. Terezi and Vriska has not authority on the ship and therefore are targets for payback. This concerns Terezi as she does not want to get killed. She does not know about Vriska but that is something that she is avoiding at the moment. Vriska is literally going to be the death of her at this rate. “Are we really doing this Vriska ? What are you even going to do?” 

“I told you revenge! No one is going to eat this crap. So we are going to see what it is like to mess with a real pirate.” 

“He is a real pirate.” Terezi reminds Vriska but the Serket is ignoring her at this point. She is no longer interested in what Terezi has to say at this point. She figures that her friend will help no matter what and Vriska is correct. “But I am also one too and the stupid lowblood is going to figure that out first handed.” Terezi sees no point in fighting with Vriska about this. She can tell that this is going to get them in major trouble but she is sure that she can find a way to make sure that only Vriska will get in trouble and not her. “Yeah. Ok then but what are you actually doing with this...food? Doesn’t the slaves eat what the rest doesn’t?” Vriska shrugs her shoulders and continues to search through a sack for anything else she could find. “Don’t know and don’t care. Stop worrying about everything Terezi. You’re no fun. You take things too seriously.” 

Terezi looks at the molding food and back at her friend, who haves her back against her as she is at the going through another sack. “I could drop this food on you. Would that make me more fun?” Vriska quickly turns around and stands up in fear that Terezi would actually do it. It was wise of her to assume so. “No! That will just make you a bulge sucker, you jerk.” She says that louder than she had planned as one of the cooks near by glares their way but he never says anything in fear of getting punished by the Captain. “That’s mean.” Terezi pretends to sound hurt but the on coming grin tells Vriska it’s nothing. “What will your so called Captain say about that language?” Vriska laughs at this and grabs some of the rotten food from Terezi. “She would do nothing and punish you instead or she would teach me better insults.” Terezi groans as they start making their way back on deck and there is some sad truth to what was said. It was a joke but Terezi would not be surprise anymore about getting in trouble by Vriska. It was why she stopped caring about avoiding it and started going along with it. There of course have been plenty of times where Vriska got a taste of her own medicine and gotten in serious trouble with Mindfang that resulted in Vriska having to fix a shelf and mopping the deck for ten nights. Those were good time to Terezi. She just wished that Vriska got in trouble more often because maybe then she would stop doing ridiculous things, such as what they are going to do. 

“The moron who doesn’t think I am a pirate sleeps around here somewhere.” Vriska states and walks around the block where most of the crew sleeps. It is not as pack as most are up on deck. Some trolls were down there talking or eating but ignored the girls. “You are still not telling me what we are doing. You need to give me time to come up with a story to blame this all on you somehow. Oh wait...this is all your idea.” Vriska continues to walk around until she finds a recuperacoon. “This is it! Ok. Here is what we are doing. We are going to smash all this food-”

“Uh huh.”

“and then we are going to dump it in his coon!” Vriska stated proudly and Terezi frowns. “That’s it?” 

“Yeah. Why?” Vriska thought it was a good plan and is surprise that Terezi does not like it. “Your plan sucks! All he is going to do is get a slave to cleaning it out.” Terezi explains and can tell that it is not going to be that much of a hassle to him. “But if he’s tired, he is going to be pissed!” She laughs and starts smashing the rotten food in Terezi’s hands. It was unexpected and Terezi jumps back as Vriska was dirtying her shirt with the food. When smashed, the food started giving off a worse smell that triggers Terezi’s nose. She starts breathing through her mouth not get a sniff of the now foul food.

The sad part of it all was that the shit Terezi was wearing her favorite shirt. An all teal colored shirt that had red short sleeves. She knows better than to wear it when Vriska is causing trouble because now it was dirty and probably going to smell for a while. Terezi does not know if Vriska did that intentionally or if it was by genuine accident. The small smirk tells Terezi that Vriska is trying to get under her skin and is succeeding at it. “Yuck! Stop. You’re making a mess!” Vriska laughs and grabs the squashed food and starts tossing it in the coon. It was a shame that it was one of the few ones on the ship. “Shut up.” Terezi looks down and sees that her shirt is definitely dirty now. Vriska haves her back facing Terezi as she starts dumping food into the coon. All the mess is either on Terezi and in the coon. To Terezi, that is not that fair. Without thinking it through completely, Terezi holds onto the little food left and shoves it down Vriska’s pants. The other girl yells and stands up quickly. Terezi laughs and tries shoving more now in the front of Vriska pants and the other girl is wrestling to get Terezi off of her. Terezi is starting to get pulled off. “What the fuck?! I’m am going to punch you in the face!” Vriska is blue in the face and Terezi can not tell if it is due to embarrassment or anger. It could be both. To Terezi it definitely looks like both. 

Vriska is struggling to take off her pants due to thrashing about in pure rage. Terezi is enjoying the sight as Vriska can't even remove her pants. It was pathetic but funny to watch. Vriska is making so much unnecessary movement that she falls to the ground with her pants near her knees. The sight is beautiful to Terezi and she is doing her best to engrave the image in her head. "You look pretty stupid right now." Terezi comments and stands out of arm's length from Vriska. Her friend stays on the floor as the molding food is scattered on the floor and still in Vriska. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Wow! Who said it would be ok to use that language on my ship?" Terezi wants to groan but doesn't and instead turns to see Marquise walking towards them. Vriska stands up quickly and picks up her pants which results in letting some food slip out of her pants leg. Terezi tries not to laugh but seeing the disgusted look on Vriska's face. This is turning out to be a great night for her. She just hopes Mindfang's visit won't ruin it too much. 

"Sorry Captain." Vriska quickly apologizes and stands up awkwardly. She is obviously flushed with embarrassment at this point and Terezi loves it. "You better be. Would one of you kindly explain what troubles you are bringing me tonight? By the looks of it, you are making a mess on my ship." Vriska goes not bother taking her eyes off the floor as Terezi manages to have a blank stare at Mindfang. "Can either one if you comprehend how hard it is to care for a ship of the magnitude?" Terezi does say anything and all Vriska say is, "No, Captain." 

"Terezi, do you know?" Mindfang questions her as she must not have been satisfied with the silence. Vriska gives her friend, and now kismesis, a worry glance because they know how to respond already. For some reason, Terezi tends to be the more defiant one when it came to titles and responsibilities. Yet the girl just hated the life style with a passion. Terezi has expressed it countless times that this life was not for her because it never once felt right. Being a pirate felt wrong in both morally and by trade. She hates it. Terezi finds more of an interest in the legal field. She already owns two books in Alternian law but nothing more. It's hard to get a hold of the books as they are pricey, and Mindfang constantly explains that it is pointless and a form of distraction. 

Getting those books required a lot of sneaking around and even theft. She didn't steal the books. Terezi just borrowed some coins from the Captain over time without permission There was no way she was going to take all the money at once. Mindfang would notice and the pirate does not take kindly to those who steal from her. Terezi and Vriska never learned that the hard way but have witnessed it first hand. Too many trolls have been killed or tortured due to mostly taking food or coin from Mindfang. Most of those who stole food were slaves while the thieves that took a few gold were greedy crew members that claimed that Mindfang needed to do more sharing of the wealth. Terezi can see why some trolls would do what they did and that was how she picked up the habit of stealing from Mindfang. Unlike Vriska, Terezi has yet to get caught with stealing and she plans to keep it that way. 

“No. I don’t know how to care for a ship.” Terezi finally responses after a few seconds of glaring from Mindfang and worry glances from Vriska. Despite how they treat each other to they still had a sisterhood feeling feared the harm of the other. So this moment is vital as all eyes are Terezi caused by her lack of formality to Mindfang, their Captain. "You're seem to have forgotten how to properly address me. Might I be obligated to reeducate you in a manner that would be most unpleasant?” The snarky tone lingering in the voice of Mindfang is fueling Terezi’s anger. She knows better than to lose express anger to Mindfang because that was what she wants. Mindfang is an excellent fighter and manipulator that knows how to get what she wants. Right now, she is trying to get Terezi to obey or trick her to unleash her anger. Terezi can say that Mindfang will get what she wants whether she wants to admit it or not. “No, Captain. You don’t need to.” Terezi response and she hates the smug expression that appears on Mindfang. Vriska just looks relief that Terezi was not going to continue her arguing. “Excellent. Since both of you have nothing better to do, you can help clean the deck tonight." Vriska groans as she hates the tedious work that anyone could do. They has enough slaves to do that work and Vriska get upset when she is forced to do work that is meant for lower class trolls. It was why it called punishment but apparently it was too cruel in Vriska's opinion. "Can we change first?!" Vriska looks desperate to get out of her dirty clothes but it only brings up Terezi's joy. However she wants to change too. "No. Get to work right away." Mindfang quickly turned around with a bit sass in it. Terezi haves mix feelings about the command but does not fight it. Vriska looks ready to punch the wall though. She is beyond mad and Terezi grins. "What are you complaining about? My shirt smells like crap. That's closer to my face than your pants." Vriska is loosely holding onto her pants to not allow them to make full contact with her skin and underwear. Overall, Vriska looked uncomfortable. "I'm complaining that my crotch is covered in spoiled food! It feels weird and I look stupid."

"Vriska...you always look stupid." Terezi comments as she is tempted to take off her shirt and throw it overboard. she had to admit that they avoided a worse punishment but that did not mean Terezi was spontaneous with the fact that she was stuck with having to do work now. They were suppose to have the night off and only have navigation training near dawn. Regardless, their plans have changed due to their mischievous behavior. Terezi did not care but Vriska is frowning. “Shut up. I hate you! Now I can’t change until morning and...why did you even do that?!” Terezi hums and rubs her chin as she pretends to think of an answer. “Because Vriska, you could be a total tool and it’s kinda funny.” Vriska stares at her for a moment and Terezi mimics the action. They have a serious face that is identical and Vriska charges at Terezi quickly and does not give the girl enough time to dodge it. 

Terezi goes down hard down fast and lands on her stomach. She groans. Vriska grunts and keeps a tight grip on Terezi and tries to pull her pants off. “AH! What are you doing?! Stop!” Terezi shouts and tries grab a hold of her pants as Vriska keeps trying to pull. “You messed up mine! So I’m taking yours!” “No! No! My pants! AHHHH!” Terezi keeps screaming as if she was being murdered but it does not help. It only earns a few glares from the trolls that were passing by or trying to get work down. No one interferes in the end and the girls continue to make a ruckus. “No. They are mine now!” Vriska manages to take Terezi’s pants off and that is when Vriska gets off Terezi. There is a victorious laugh from Vriska as she quickly changes pants. Terezi frowns and stays on the floor. “You’re a jerk.” Vriska stands in front of Terezi wearing the Libra’s pair of pants. “Stop crying about it, loser. You ruined mine. So I’m taking yours.” Terezi slowly gets to her feet and looks down at herself. All she has now is a dirty shirt, her boxers, and her shoes. 

Before Terezi could say anything, there were shouts coming from above deck. They give each other a questionable glance. The words are not clear to make out what was said but Terezi is sure that there was no cheering going on. She starts getting worried as the crew below deck start swarming up the stairs to get on deck. “Are we under attack or something?!” Vriska questions no one in particular and Terezi stands there worrying that an event will occur at any moment. “Come on Terezi. We need to check this out!” Vriska runs up to the stairs and Terezi follows close by. She does not fear what might be happening. The ship is not rocking in any usual way. Therefore, she had to assume that they were not under attack but something was going on. She wants to know just as much as Vriska and sprints to the deck. “Terezi. Look!” Vriska points off to the distance and Terezi can see what Vriska pointing out. “That’s a..ship? What flag do they have?” Terezi squints her eyes and moves to the rails of the ship get a better look at ship not far off. Mindfang is heard shouting out a string of orders. Some trolls are getting pulling out weapons and Terezi is thinking that fighting will start soon. This is not a game of battleship and Terezi finds the thought overwhelming. If the ship goes down then they all do. As a troll who hates the sea, this is a sick way to die. 

“I think it is an Imperial Navy.” Vriska states as the ship comes clearer. “I think this is it Terezi. This our chance to prove that we are pirates!” Terezi opens her mouth in surprise to Vriska. “Really, Vriska? They are coming to kill us.” Vriska crosses her arms and shakes her head with a confident grin plastered on her face. “No way. We got this! Come one Terezi, we need to get real swords from the Captain.” It disturbs Terezi how Vriska is viewing this all as a game because Terezi is genuinely terrified at the sight. They can be killed or enslaved and Vriska thinks that she can put up a fight against trained killers. Sometimes Terezi wonders where Vriska gets her intelligence but then remembers who ancestor is. 

“I don’t think-” Terezi stops when Vriska run off to Mindfang. “...she never listens to me.” Vriska runs and does not look back and Terezi follows knowing that there was nothing else she could do. She starts running and bumps into a few trolls who get in her way as she makes her way to Mindfang. This is going be a deadly night when the trolls around her ready cannons are start handing out weapons to even a few trusted slaves. Terezi had never seen that and she is worried that this will truly end in bloodshed. “Vriska. Terezi. Go below deck. It’s adult swim time.” Vriska groans and points the oncoming ship. “But they are close and there is only one! We can take them.” Mindfang nods her head in agreement. “Of course. They are not even a worthy opponent to even engage. Worry not. We are only preparing for the worst. With one ship against my personal fleet, calling it a battle would be generous.” Vriska sighs and it a mix of relief and disappointment. Terezi is just glad that there will not be any fighting. Yes they had training on how to use a sword but these were trained killers with years of experience. “Soooooooo, why is the Navy coming?” 

Terezi looks out to sea and the ship is close to the point to where she can see the trolls on board. They were impressive. The trolls looked civilized with sharp uniforms. The outfits and the perfect posture was almost intimidating as they look some much more superior than Mindfang’s ragtag group. Granted, she dawned fine clothing but most of the crew wore casual clothing and the lower ones were left in rags. It was embarrassing! Terezi is ashamed to even be on this ship now. Moments later and a few trolls start boarding their ship and Mindfang makes her way down. Vriska follows like an obedient bark beast and Terezi is only going to get a better look at the Navy trolls. Who knew that the Empire would be so impressive and flashy? Terezi keeps her eyes on the trolls and one is clearly a seadweller. He stands tall with confidence as he crosses over with five other trolls. There is a younger troll following behind him. Terezi is trying to get a better look but Vriska stands in front of her.

 

She moves Vriska out of the way and Vriska pushes her back. They playfully glare at each other but do not say anything. Mindfang does not see the girls misbehaving or just decided to ignore them. Terezi believes it is the former one and tries to also look impressive. She stands up straight and makes eye contact with the seadweller, who ignores her. “Dualscar. Not a Surprise nor a pleasure. Come to surrender after your last defeat? It would be the only wise choice you have made as commander.” The trolls frowns and shakes his head. “No. No. Surrendering to a bunch of ruffians would surely not be handle well with the Empress. She has more important matters to attend to and have left me in charge of her Navy. Since I am such a merciful opponent, I will gladly accept your surrender. We might even spare a few of them.” The smug grin catches Terezi’s attention. She keeps switching her attention between Mindfang and the troll named Dualscar. 

“Do you truly suspect that my crew and I would surrender to a lowly troll such as yourself?” Mindfang tilts her head and Dualscar laughs. “Oh yes. You have such a fine crew. That one is not even wearing pants.” All eyes turn to Terezi. She tries to pull her shirt down more and laughs nervously. “Hey…” Mindfang groans and shakes her head. “Do not mind her. She is special in the think pan.” Terezi frowns at the comment and Vriska laughs quietly at her. Talk about not making a good first impression. Terezi just hopes to never see him again. Yet as tries to fade behind Vriska, she finally gets a good look at the younger troll.

He looks about their age. By the colors he wears, it is a clear indication that he is a highblood who will one night have an impressive rank in whatever career choice he selects. He looks them curiously but does not say a word. Terezi wonders who he is and how different his life is compared to hers. She knows there is more to life than the one she owns. “You two run off. We have somethings to discuss.” Vriska does not say anything but listens and starts to walk off. Terezi take her time leaving but studies the trolls carefully.She wants to remember how they look because if they are criminals, then there is no possible way that this will be the last time they will have a run in with the them.


	13. Far Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Vriska wait in their block as Marquise and Dualscar have a conversation. However, it does not end well as they end up under attack. As she tries to avoid the bloodshed, Terezi hides and that results in an even worse outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer as I was doing finals but now I have time off! I hope you enjoy this chapter as updates will show up more.

"Nice job. You got us in trouble." Vriska states with a frown. The bothered look from Vriska does not anger Terezi. It does however, amaze her that she would get blame for making them look ridiculous. The sad part is that Vriska truly believes it. "Me? You took my pants! Who even does that? You apparently." Terezi starts going through some of her clothes and finds another pair of pants to wear. She slips them on and starts to change her shirt too. She finds her simple black and teal shirt. Terezi hopes that she could have her favorite clothes get clean soon. The longer it stays that way then it might stink forever. Terezi will not lose her favorite shirt to a horrible smell caused by Vriska being a jerk. 

"Yeah. All your fault. We looked like fools compared to the navy." Vriska complains. "Vriska, we looked stupid from the start. They have uniforms and real jobs. The navy is just trying to stop Mindfang from causing trouble. Why's that wrong? We know what she's doing is illegal." 

"So? They want a fight so we will give them one! They are messing with the best trolls at the sea." Vriska proclaims proudly. "I think sea dwellers would be the best at sea. They live there!" Terezi counters knowing that she will get no where with this. She wonders why she even tries to argue with Vriska.”Shut up. You sound stupid. You look stupid too.” The insults were not impressive and Terezi was not surprise that Vriska was trying too hard to anger her enough to get them wrestling. She was not in the mood though. Terezi pulls her scalemate close to her and fiddles with the red glasses she had gotten from Marquise. It is starting to all make sense to Terezi now. There had to be a connection. The troll in that village stated that her ancestor was named Redglare. The glasses are red. Terezi knows that this is no coincidence and plans on questioning Mindfang. There is something she is keeping from Terezi and she will find out sooner or later.

“Hellllooo?! Are you listening? You are suppose to say shit back or did you already forget?” Vriska questions once she noticed that Terezi suddenly got distracted. “What? Oh! I was waiting for you to shut up. You talk too much.” Vriska glares at Terezi but does not say anything. It is rare to have Vriska not talk. In fact, it is enjoyable to the point Terezi would cry tears of joy to have Vriska never talk again.Instead, Terezi keeps talking. 

“I was just think about my ancestor. To be hones-” There is a loud explosion that makes Terezi’s ears ring and Vriska jump. The ship rocks harshly a second later and the girls have no idea what is going on. Terezi and Vriska are thrown off balance. Vriska was standing and is now on her knees, trying to not fall flat on her face. Luckily, Terezi was sitting down on the floor and just follows the motions of the ship. “What was that?!” Vriska shouts but Terezi can only hear Vriska’s muffled voice as someone was talking into a tin can. Her ears keep ringing and the pain is starting to come on as another explosion erupts. Terezi covers her ears in hopes that it will help. Vriska is in too much shock and the ship rocks again. “We’re under attack!” Terezi realizes and informs Vriska. There is shouting from the deck and Terezi stands up and drops her scalemate and glasses. “Shit! Should we go up and see?” Terezi questions and Vriska jumps to her feet.

Vriska keeps her balance as Terezi staggers to stay still. Her knees wobble and Vriska would normally laugh at her for not having good sea legs. Vriska is almost shaking in her boots in fear despite her tough girl act and Terezi does not blame her. They have an idea of what is going on but does not want to believe it. There is no way someone would attack their hive. This ship is their sanctuary. The thought scares them as this would be the first time that they will be caught in the middle of an actual fight. Vriska runs to the door when the ship settles down in movement and Terezi sees her chance to make it to the door as well. “Come one!” Vriska throw open the door and stops dead in her tracks once they get on deck.

There is fighting. It is a war zone as trolls of all kind are on their ship. There are navy officers charging at the pirates and even some slaves are helping the navy in hopes of freedom. Mindfang is on the other end of the ship, slaughtering trolls left and right. Terezi wonders what went wrong. Mindfang said nothing would happen but seeing the blood of their crew scares Terezi. She quickly runs when a navy officer sees them and charges at them. “Kill everyone!” Vriska is too busy looking around to notice until Terezi yells. “Run!” Vriska looks to her friend and soon sees the other troll going after them. She runs off too but does not follows Terezi. There is too much chaos going on around them. The blasting sound of cannons scares Terezi along with the harsh clashing of swords. 

The threat of death is hanging around her and every one of her senses is going crazy. Her survival instincts are kicking in as she runs for her life. The sick beating from her blood pusher forces her to run fast that makes her breathing hard. She is now wishing to have attended her last sparring match instead of avoiding it because she felt like playing with her scalemate. Maybe then she might not be panicking like she is now. Terezi does her best to swerve through the crowd and dodge every blade that almost touches her. The only thing that stops her from being stabbed is another crew member stepping in to block the blade. She does not slow down or even try to look for Vriska because she is out to save herself first. Terezi is sure that her friend will be doing the same. There are many shouts coming from all over the deck and the ship rocks as they fire cannons to the navy. Terezi runs below deck and hears trolls yelling to catch her. That is a strong encouragement to her to run faster as she jumps inside a crate once they get too close. She can not outrun them as she finds herself digging deeper in the crate after shutting the top the top tightly. 

It is a box of stolen clothing that was surely going to to be sold when they got on land. Yet, it is Terezi’s hiding place now. “Get outta there you wiggler!” One troll shouts and shoves his sword from the top of the box. The blade misses her by inches and she starts to panic as she sinks deeper in the crate. “Oh shit…” Terezi whispers and starts to feel helpless as another troll laughs. “Sounds like you missed there. Here. Let me try!” A male voice states and another sword is shoved into the box and avoids her. It enters in from the left side and misses her stomach. Terezi stays quiet as she is sure she will die if she makes any noise that she is alive. Yet, she was sure this is it. She is going to die in a tiny box with no chance of crawling out to see the night again.

The trolls start laughing as they remove their swords from the crate. The holes are the only source of air and that made her slightly grateful. her fast breathing was taking up the air at an unnecessary speed. Terezi slows down her breathing once there is shouting. “Pirate!” A navy officer shouts and that takes the attention off of Terezi once footsteps start coming closer. “The intruders!” A third voice breaks Terezi’s thoughts and gives her some hope of freedom. She does not know what is going on outside the crate as she hears only the clashing of swords and the death cries tell her a lot. She hopes that it is her people that are winning and it was then that she counts the crew as one of her own. Terezi did have a bad habit of not thinking herself as part of the group, but when it comes to life and death, she did not care who was saving her.

There is silence only two second before she hears footsteps leaving the crate and Terezi wonders if it is safe to poke her head out. There is too much fear in her to do so as she would rather wait for the battle to end. She knows what she is doing is cowardly. Vriska is probably helping defend the ship, and it does make Terezi think about going out there to find her. She does not know if her new kismesis was fine or not. Terezi is concern and she fumbles around in the box to find the top. Terezi needs to help. She will not let Mindfang laugh at her for being scared of a new navy troops.

She groans as she right leg starts losing feeling in it due to her horrible positioning. Terezi keeps shoving clothes out of the way and finally finds the top. She tries to push it open but the top won’t come off. “Shit...no! Come on.” Terezi tries again until she hears trolls running down the stairs and that stops her. She does go back to being quiet and wonders if it is a friend or foe coming down. Terezi glances at the hole in the crate. She figures she can look out through it to answer her question.“Take what you can!” Terezi feels the box getting lifted off the ground and she squirms in the box that causes the trolls carrying it to groan. “What’s in this?!”

Terezi can't look out the hole for a moment as it is hard for her to stay still long enough to look out of it. The times her eye was able to look out did not see much but just a uniform. A navy uniform. “I don’t know! Just take what you can! These are all there supplies. Let’s hope it is food!” Terezi hears the sound of shouting and fighting becoming clear again. The crate bounces and Terezi groans as she is thrown about. Her horns keep hitting the walls and Terezi tries to break free. There are still sounds of cannons and cheers erupting and soon the box lands harshly on the ground that makes Terezi hit her head against the crate. A second later she finds herself knocking out from the impact. 

She does not know how long she was out. Terezi feels stiff from the lack of movement and knows that she is still stuck. Terezi starts kicking the crate with her feet in frustration. “Hey! Someone get me out of here!” She shouts and keeps thrashing in the box. Terezi is finding herself getting claustrophobic and her blood push is pumping so fast that her hands are shaking. “Get me out! Help!” Terezi screams and is getting overheated by being in a confined space. I does not help that she is surrounded by thick material that is warming up her body. She is finding herself starting to sweat and tries to stay calm. The only thing that helps is the tiny holes that were created by the swords. She hears a door slamming open and slow footsteps coming closer to her. “I’m in here! Help!” Terezi shouts and is glad the a confused hum comes from outside her box. Someone hears her and this tells her she is getting out. “Oh? There is someone inside.” There is another sound of footsteps and they come more eager. “Excuse me, sir? A troll is in there?” 

“Sounds like it. What are you waiting for?! Someone get this open!” Terezi sighs in relief and hears grunting voices. The top of the crate cracks open slowly and a burst of air enters Terezi’s lungs. She was sure she was running out of air even though there is two holes, but now she could breathe with no trouble as the top is ripped open. Terezi shots her head out of the box and leans on it. “Thanks…” She looks up to see who helped. To her dismay it is a few navy officers. It is then that she looks around and find herself on the deck of a navy ship. Her mouth opens and stays that way as she soon laughs nervously. “Uhhh. Hey....I think I was shipped to the wrong place.” Terezi tries sinking back into the crate in hopes that they would forget about her. 

“Look what we have here! We have a stowaway.” The troll lifts Terezi up by the collar of her shirt as she tries to squirm. “Let me go you shiteaters!” Terezi shouts and tries to bite the troll’s arm. Her teeth do not come close to his arm due to her position and he laughs at her pathetic attempt to break free. “Hey, guys! Check out what I found. Looks like I won a prize!” Terezi keeps trying to pull away as her feet remain off the ground as more trolls come to see what is going on. She finds herself surrounded as she is studied by the tall trolls. Terezi never realized how short she was until she struggles to touch the ground.

“Yeah! That is one small brat you got there! Came in the box, there?” One troll questions and the main that is holding her nods his head. “Yes, she did boys. Not sure if she works for that pirate or not? Do ya wriggler? Speak up! I hope you can talk.” Terezi glares at the troll holding onto her and does her best to keep her cool. She knows she is outnumbered and in deep enemy territory. Right now, she needs to play her cards right. “Unforchantly...” She grumbles and that makes a few people laugh and howl. “Ey! We got a funny one here!” Terezi somehow finds herself amusing the trolls around her.

She keeps a blank face as she is dropped to the floor without a warning. Terezi stands up and feels her back getting hit strongly by a hand. “This troll is a card! Hey wriggler, what’s your name?” The troll that found her questions. “I’m Terezi Pyrope.” He nods his head and looks to the other officers. “Well, not anymore! You are now navy property.” Terezi feels sick and wants to jump off ship right now. “How about…? 413?” He turns to his allies and they shrug their shoulders. “Sounds good. We don’t have a slave with that number yet.” 

“Slave?!” Terezi questions as she figures out what was going on. This is not what she thought would happen when she hid in the crate. Out of all the hiding places she could have picked, she picked the one that got her caught by accident. “Keep your mouth shut unless spoken to!” One troll yells at her. “Yeah, wriggler. You are now property of the navy. You will go by 413 now! So you better get used to it or else we have to break it into you. Got it, you little shit.” There is a hint of joy in the troll’s voice that worries Terezi. No troll should enjoy having to breaking the news of enslavement. It makes her wonder if this is how Mindfang’s slaves felt like when the news was told to them. “Sure…” Right away a open palm slaps the back of her head. “Wrong answer! It’s yes sir or yes ma'am. Get used to it or else we will get it drilled in your tiny skull and i mean that literally.” Terezi keeps her mouth shut and this earns her glares. “Say it. Now.” The troll glares at her and when Terezi stays quiet, feels a fist quickly makes contact with her face.

Terezi falls flat on her back and laughter come from around her. She groans as she quickly feels her blood starting to spill. “Don’t be stupid, 413! Maybe getting in the proper environment might set you straight.” Terezi covers her nose and feels blood starting to drip past her hands. She wants to cry but holds it back. There is no way she will look weak in front of these trolls. Terezi knows that she needs to keep a cool head. Before she could do anything else, a firm grip takes Terezi and pulls her up on her feet again. “Just take her to where all of the other trash is being held." A troll starts dragging her below deck. She tries to resist but can not pull away. There are some slaves that see what is going on but avoid staring. “Move your feet, 413! Walk or else I’ll give you a real reason not to walk!” She stumbles but tries to not make it easy for him. “I’m not a slave! My name is Terezi.” She states and almost comments that she was a pirate. Luckily, she did not. The navy would probably kill her if they had the full picture of her life before. 

“Not anymore wriggler. You better get used to it. You will forget your old life soon enough. Now get down there!” They reach a door and he swings it open. Terezi is shoved inside and she almost falls down the stairs. Her reflexes stop her from falling down but the door shuts behind her. Terezi quickly turns around and tries to open it up again. She is not surprise that it is lock and she has no else to go but down. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust to the complete darkness. Being a troll had its perk. Her eyes quickly make everything visible as she continues to go down the steps. There is coughing and quiet chatter down the steps. Once she reaches the bottom, Terezi sees a few candles scattered on the floor. There are too many trolls down there for her comfort even though the block is large. “Who’s her?” An older female asks and Terezi feels awkward with everyone looking at her. Most are wearing rags and only a few are wearing decent clothing.

Terezi does not understand what that means but has a feeling she will learn soon. “Come sit over here.” One older troll offers. He is a brown blood by the look in his eyes. He looks ready to drop dead in Terezi’s opinion. Terezi can see his aging face and makes her wonder if he had lived his entire life like this. Was he born a slave and was he going to die as one? She can not imagine a troll living like that. Yet, this could be a good thing for her. Terezi needs information. Talking to them will be a strong start. She walks in that direction as most stare at her. "Thanks for the offer." Terezi states even though she really didn't care. There are five over adult trolls near her and she feels so small sitting next to them. They tower over her and many looked aggravated. "Of course. So where did you come from? It is not ever night where a new troll comes while we are at the middle of the sea."

"I was on a pirate's ship. The navy attacked and I tried hiding. I guess they were trying to steal back some of their things, but accidentally took me too." Terezi explains and another troll groans. "Pirate, uh? Were you a slave for them? Don't worry wriggler. The navy will treat you better as long as you don't do anything stupid. Judging by your shirt, you're a teal blood. Higher your blood, the better treatment you might get. I think you are the only slave here that is a teal blood." Another troll tells Terezi. This gives Terezi some hope of being released even though that was a joke. She knows for sure that walking out of this is not going to happen.

“No. I was not a slave. I don’t know what I was. I was found at a grub and taken in.” A few slaves snicker and one breaks the news to her. “Sounds like you were a pet than a slave. To be honest I would rather be a slave and keep my pride than licking the boot of my master as they fix my collar.” Some trolls nod their heads in agreement and Terezi is annoyed about the comment. She is not a pet. There is no way she will be considered a pet but the the clues add up. She lived a good life as Vriska but was viewed less. It does not help that Terezi did not get as much respect as much as Vriska, and now she is bothered by the sudden realization. “What? No! I wasn’t a pet. I...shit!” She knows that she can not talk her way out of this and tries to break away from the conversation. "I just didn't want to be pirate. That’s it."

“Hey. Don’t worry about it. Not every troll out there is hatched to have a good life. Just do your work here and you will be fine.” One of the slaves tries to explain and Terezi frowns. “I’m tired for working for others! I hate the fucking sea and I just want my ancestor...This would have never happened if she would have never died. The shitty part of it all is I don’t even know what happened.” Some trolls look at her with pity and do not say anything. They understand that is must be hard to accept the fact that she is now a slave. Most trolls fight it to the end especially if they were not hatched as a slave. 

“Just sleep it off. We go working in the night, wriggler.” Terezi looks around on the floor and sees nothing. “Where?” A troll sighs and another shake their heads. “On the floor. Where else?!” Terezi makes a face as trolls leave her alone. “...the floor?” She asks no one and looks around. Some trolls have extra cloth that are being used to keep them comfortable as a blanket or a pillow. Terezi groans as she is left alone for a while and tried to make herself comfortable on the floor. She can not sleep as one younger troll is crying quietly I'm the corner while two other trolls are having sex on the other side of the block. Terezi covers her ears and close her eyes. She wants to wake up and be back with Vriska. She wonders if her kismesis even misses her. There is no chance that they will come for her. Mindfang will not risk a slave's life for Terezi and she knows it. She is on her own. 

"Hey, troll." Her thoughts break as she sits up and sees an older looking troll standing in front of her. She is not not that older. She is maybe about seven sweeps. A couple more walk up to Terezi as well. "What?" She looks at all of them and the look in their eyes worry her. "You're sleeping in our spot. Move it!" Terezi glares at them and stays still. "Too bad. I'm staying." She states bitterly as she is still mad that she is far away from her life.

"What? What did you say?!" The older trolls around them ignore what is unfolding. "I said no. What? Are you stupid and a slave? Shit. I could get why you got enslaved." This earns her many glares around her and Terezi finds out that she crossed a fine line. She quickly regrets it as a young troll picks her up by her shirt. "The shit?! We're gonna fuck you up!" Terezi pushes him off and it is quickly tackled on the ground. “Damn!” She groans and tries to punch the female who takes her down. "Get off!" Yet no one helps, and soon, Terezi is getting ganged up on by a few of the younger slaves. Terezi is too disoriented to see who is hitting her but tries to get up as they kick and punch her. She feels someone holding her arms down to keep her from fighting. There is no hold back and Terezi finds herself on the floor.

“Shit!” Her ribs start to hurt as Terezi finds herself landing on her back after a punch to the chest. A troll grabs her arm and twists it in a painful manner that almost feels ready to snap. Terezi cries out in pain as she swings at the other troll. She misses as another slave punches her in the side. Terezi gets to her knees to only find herself back on her back again. There is a tug at her feet and she kicks a troll off her legs, but they manage to tackle her and hit her in the side of the head. Soon, a younger looking troll manages to pull off her shoes and that annoys Terezi. “Hey! That’s mine!” She tries to get up but a troll stomps on her leg before she could do anything else. 

“Ok. Ok. Get off. She gets it.” A troll states and there are a few grumbles and one troll is bold enough to stomp on her chest. The wind gets knocked out of her and Terezi rolls on her stomach in pain. “You better keep your mouth shut next time, wriggler!” A female calls out. Another trolls shouts out too in disgust and Terezi knows she messed up. “Damn teal. Think she better.” His vocabulary is broken and if Terezi was in any other position, she would have made fun of him.

Terezi gets to her knees and feels her arms shake as she pushes herself off the wooden floor. Her legs are worse once she gets to her feet. “Damn it.” Terezi hates that some troll thought it would be a good idea to steal her shoes while she was in a middle of a strife. Terezi glances around to see who took them but her light head state makes her confuse. She limps to one of the corners before one troll shoves her down to the floor. Terezi growls and can hear the troll laughing before walking away. She debates on getting back up and punching him down but she is will not win. Terezi is too hurt and the slaves are looking out for each other and not her. She did not know if she should feel offended that not even the slaves wanted to be around her. Terezi decides to keep to herself and gets up to go to her destination. She makes it to the corner and lays down on the floor. Her blood is slowly pooling but not enough to concern her. Terezi lays on her side and sees a group of trolls watching her. Falling asleep seemed like a terrible idea. She is terrified of falling asleep and getting murdered just because she angered a few trolls. 

She can not sleep. Terezi will stay up all day because she can not trust the other slaves. She is sure they are now plotting to kill her and Terezi will not be the victim. The glares do not scare her as Terezi returns it back to anyone who challenge her. Terezi needs to get out of her. There is no way she will be able to handle being a slave. The navy hates her and so do the slaves. At least with Marquise, no one messed with her. Now, everyone looked ready to throw her overboard. The thought is going to keep her up throughout the entire day as she planned out an escape plan.


	14. What Comes Next?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi is with the navy now but knows that this was no better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I have not updated in some time. I do work and go to school full time. Then my music hobby has taken up a lot of my time as well. I was able to get this typed up and im sorry if it is rush. I really just want to get the main stuff already.

Terezi kept her word. She stayed up all day in fear of being ambushed and actually pulled it off with much effort. At one point, she was the only one awake. All of the slaves had fallen asleep and the silence was comforting. The creaking sound of the ship and the gentle swaying was the only thing that kept her company. Yet, that brought Terezi no comfort. She wished Vriska was by her side instead of the loneliness. Terezi questioned that day if Vriska cared enough to try and talk Mindfang to find or maybe they forgot about her so soon. Terezi did not plan on waiting though. She was not going to wait around for any form of rescue as she used her sleepless day to come up with a plan. The first thing she needed to do was learn the ship’s layout. Then learned who was in charge. Terezi had to understand the functioning of the navy if she wanted to come close to even getting out. Being friendly with the other slaves would have helped and that made Terezi hate her mistake even more. She was going to have to come with something to redeem herself. Yet, this was just her using manipulation to get out of this sticky situation. She did not plan on saving any of them. Terezi just wanted to save herself.

That was her plan as the night soon comes and some of the slaves start to wake. There is a clicking noise from the door that was locked and a few slaves get up right away. Terezi did not understand what was going on but sees no point in doing the same. She stays in her hiding spot in the dark corner. Without waiting, trolls start shuffling out of the block and are probably head on deck as two uniformed trolls walk down the stairs. “Everybody get moving! Hurry up! Any slower and you are all losing your rations night!” Terezi stays seated in confusion as she watches trolls starting to pick up the pace. None look surprise though, and Terezi thinks that this common. If so then this is all kind of depressing to her. “You! Over there! Get up and move!” Terezi’s head moves to the voices as the navy officers point to her. They do not look pleased with her and there is a frown on Terezi’s face. No troll looked happy but everyone was miserable in their own way. There was not much choice but to get up even though she made a face while doing it. She walked passed the couple of navy officers and Terezi felt a rough push from one of them. 

It made the girl growl and glare that the troll. She is not one to be pushed around Terezi wants that to be known. The navy officers do not care though. A smirk enters on one's face as Terezi shoved again. "What are you at slave?! Move!" A few of the slaves around her shake their heads or give a look as to tell her to stop. Terezi ignores the look and just keeps an annoyed look on her face as she reluctantly complies. A few trolls push past her. They don't care for her and probably think Terezi won't last long on the ship. Terezi knows better though. She's a survivor and will prove it. Even though she hated the idea of even being referred to as a slave, she will play along for now.

Terezi blends into the crowd of moving slaves even though she was not pleased with the idea. She makes her way on deck and all the slave split up. Terezi stands there confuse before she hear a sudden shout. "Slave! Yes, you. Come here." Terezi notice a highly decorated troll. Many medals cover his sharp uniform and Terezi can help but to take in every detail he carries. His hair looks greasy in her opinion and he looks almost too good to actually be doing anything useful on a ship, other than shouting orders. Terezi already hates him already and does not even know who his is. Judging by his uniform he is a blue blood. It annoys Terezi that a troll like him is treating her so lowly when he is just a few shades cooler than her’s. However, there is not much she can do about it now. Terezi just makes a mental note to get him back for it. 

“Yeah?” Terezi asks and that earns her a glare. She does her best to hide her obnoxious grin from entering her face. The last thing she needs is a beating for purposely acting up. “It is yes sir. Are you truly that dense?” He asks and Terezi can not hide the grin much longer. “I guess so!” She laughs and he shakes his head. “Such a shame. It is no wonder than you do not have an ancestor. Most defective trolls are abandoned.” 

“I wasn’t abandoned. She’s dead.” Terezi corrects him and he snorts and gives her almost a look of pity. “Right then. Was that why you were on that recheat pirate ship? I can assure you that this is a much more worthy place to be than with a bunch of criminals. Here you will have a purpose. You will part of a worthy cause.” He explains and Terezi rolls her eyes. “Yeah. Against my will.” Terezi states and folds her arms across her chest. Her comment does her earn a rough tug of her hair that makes her flich. She grunts and gives him a nasty look and that caused her to get slap across the face. “You need to learn your place here. You clearly have no discipline. Tell me. What exactly did you do with the pirates. They clearly allowed you to misbehave. However, I am not that surprise.” As he speaks, Terezi does her best not to show that she is hurt by the act. The slap was hard and Terezi feels her blood quickly moving to the area she was hit. She wants to yells at him for it but bites her tongue. Terezi has gotten worse injuries but her pride just got bruised up. In a bitter tone, she tells him about her life on the ship shortly. “Not a lot. I don’t know. I just did whatever Mindfang wanted me to do.” 

"My oh my. You sound like more of an errand troll. I suppose that would be fitting for someone such as yourself." The comment makes Terezi tilt her head and give a questionable look. She is still rubbing her face where she got hit but does wonder what he is trying to get across. "Uh? What does that mean?" She quickly asks back as the lieutenant gives her a disapproving look. "Always address a non slave with a title. Anyone else would have beaten you already." He warns and Terezi can hear his annoyance, but she does not care one bit. Normally she would laugh and never do so. Yet, she needs to play cards right. "What did you mean by that, sir?" She tries and he nods his head as he looks out into the ocean. It looks mesmerizing and it is why Terezi avoids looking out into it often. The continuous blue waters pulls anyone in and it must have really applied to sea dwellers. 

"You are above the average slave here, 413. A vast majority down there are below the green hue. In fact, you do have the coolest blood in the holds as of right now.” He explains and Terezi does not really care anymore. “Hooray for me! Do I win a prize? I wanna a prize, sir.” She jokes and the older troll does his best to not snort at her comment. He does not seem troubled by what she says and that is a good sign. “In a way. You do not have to participate in the trivial labor that of the other slaves endure. We are still finding a good position in the navy for you. I have considered having you do tasks that normally a lower blood would not be trusted. You should feel honor, 413. Not many trolls are lucky as you. Do not...take it for granted.” Terezi is glad that he is looking out at the ocean because she could not stop herself from making a face of disgust at his words. Lucky? She is anything but that. Terezi hates the word with a passion as it reminds her too much of Mindfang. The woman always uses that word and Vriska has recently picked up on it and started using it over the sweeps around her. 

“Thanks, sir.” She says with a slight lack of formality. He does not seem to fully care at the moment and points out a ship a few hundred feet away from the,. “Do you see that ship, 413? That is what we protect. It is the lead of our fleet and our admiral lives there. Once we get you trained properly then I shall have you working on that ship. I can not have a teal blood scrubbing the floors when a low blood can do the task. Remember, we all have our parts to act out in life. Some are more unpleasant than others, but it is for the greater good of the empire. Remember that.” Terezi listens to what he says and almost fears the idea of being sent on that ship. Dualscar know what she looks like. The older troll had seen her on Marquise’s ship and will surely kill her if he sees her again. It makes her worry right away but there is not much she can do about it.

She did not want to think about that possibility as she does her best to shift the subject. "I wouldn't know about the empire, sir." He shakes his head in almost a disappointed manner. "I am truthfully not that surprise. A pirate wants ignorance while we bring the hard truth." Terezi raises her eyebrow at the comment. The lieutenant catches it and sighs before continuing to talk. “I will gladly educate you,413 of the structural system that we should all be following. Come, let us abscond to the cabin to discuss this. I do have much work to do tonight.” Terezi nods her head as the lieutenant turns around to walk inside. She has to admit that she is highly curious about the empire. Mindfang thinks she is smart by keeping Terezi in the dark when it comes to the land life. Yet here she was, talking to a navy lieutenant. 

He just might be the key to give her knowledge to give Terezi the upper hand against Mindfang. She hates that pirate and is willing to do anything to get away from her for good. Terezi even plays the idea of even bringing Mindfang to justice. The few law books she acquired has helped her form the ideas of Mindfang getting what she deserves for the crimes she had committed. Terezi keeps the thoughts in her head and dares to not write anything down. If anyone finds out then she will be good as dead. Vriska can not know of it even though Terezi has accidently let a few loose comments slip when they were play fighting. Vriska never takes her seriously and Terezi hopes that the words will be erased from Vriska’s mind. 

 

So the lieutenant talks and Terezi listens. “After the culling, a majority of the bodies are given to the subjugglators for the blood to be used as paint. I have to admit that it is not the most...elegant way to rid of the bodies. However, it is efficient.” He waves off and takes a drink from his glass of water. The lieutenant stays seated at his desk. Paperwork is sprawled everywhere and yet it still looks neatly organized. Terezi stands on the other side of the desk and rolls on her heels. She keeps looking around the room as he chats about the empire. It may not look like Terezi is listening but she is. Terezi just finds herself distracted by the advance technology within the ship. She knew that valuable technology is preserved for the highbloods and it amazed her to see it in person. The exterior may look similar to an old fashioned ship. However, the interior give Terezi a different story. The walls in his cabin have computers hanging from the walls and functioning a robot in the corner that it could cull her for just looking at it wrong. 

“Subjugglators sound boring. I like the legislacerators. They sound awesome! So can any troll be one? I want to go out and get criminals! I even had some law books back on Mindfang’s ship.” Terezi states proudly as if she knew everything about the legal system. He laughs at her and deep down Terezi understood why. However, she is still offended by it and tries to hold back sticking her tongue at him like the 6 sweep she is. “You understand nothing of our world just by the content of which are in your books.” He states smoothly as he looks down at her. "I kinda get some of legal stuff." She explains to him because she doesn't want to look like a clueless fool. Looking bad in front of military makes anyone have a terrible reputation. Terezi wants a good and clean record and dares to take his challenge. Luckily for her, he is amused by it. 

"I expect so. Yet, you only know of which a book has taught you. If we learned everything from books then we would never allow lowbloods to read and write. Some trolls do make it their life’s goal to ensure that the others stay where they belong. We have have our place in the empire. Some were born to lead. Others can only follow. A troll needs to do the dirty work. We all can not be glorified dolls, obsessing in our latest conquest. No. Only very few have that privilege and it should stay that way." 

"Uh...sure then. I guess. I just talking about my favorite book." Terezi says as soon as the troll stops talking. She really didn't care about this mess. Terezi didn't grow up learning any of this and didn't care. All she cared about the empire was the legal part. That was all she knew and all she wanted to know. Yes, the basic structure seemed odd in Terezi’s opinion but that was not her key focus. She just wants to look into more on being a justice bringer. Being a legislacerator sounds right to her. There are plenty of wrong doers that needs to be knocked down a few pegs. Terezi Pyrope is more than willing to be the one to do such a task as she can also show off her skills. So, all this talk about social standings does not catch her attention right away. The lieutenant sees this and almost looks content with that. “Yes, I am aware. Your reading material can be discussed in length if allowed. I could understand why a wriggler such as yourself would be uninterested. The topic is not a taste your age group would find stimulating.” He comments easily and sounds bored himself. Terezi stares at him as he talks and he ignores it well. “No matter then. Why should I expect a teal blood to be actively interested in the actual structure of   
our political foundation. Most of your shade cares only of the legal aspect for whatever reason." 

"Yeah, I don't get that too." Terezi boredly states. He snorts at the comment and knows that Terezi does not care very much anymore. “Do you truly comprehend what I am saying? I think not.” He states and waves her off. There is no point in talking to Terezi if she is not interested in listening. The lieutenant will not waste his time talking to her. “Just leave already. The cook is shorthanded. Go there and tell him that you were sent there to work.” Terezi does not argue as she gives a simple, “yes sir.” She knows she can not complain even she has the overwhelming urge to do so. It's best to just keep her mouth shut and wait for the right moment. 

Terezi wants off this ship and will do what needs to be done to get off. Playing along is the key and she knows it. The idea is disgusting to her but her options are limited. Anyways, working with a cook should not be too hard. Terezi just needs to earn trust and she could probably be able to sneak off when the time is right. That’s her plan. It is not a real plan but it was all should come up with at the moment. Terezi will have to come up with a more detailed plan later on. Once she gets a better idea of the trolls on the ship then Terezi will then be able to escape. Terezi walks off with smile on her face as she is confident in her abilities. She feels the overwhelming emotions but cockiness is one that sticks out the most on her. She maybe in a desperate situation but that will not slow Terezi down.

All while, Vriska stays worried for Terezi. The Pyrope is missing and no one knows where she is located. Some crew members whisper rumors of Terezi probably getting killed and thrown into the ocean. The thoughts make Vriska nervous and on edge. She could not sleep that day as it was not the same without Terezi there in the block. The silence was too much for her. All she wanted was Terezi back with her at day, but that was not going to happen. Vriska knew that Terezi was dead or captured and there was nothing she could do about it. She is stuck on the ship without her friend by her side. It is both saddening and sickening to Vriska as she starts to feel more worried for Terezi every second. Instead of sleeping, Vriska stays up and holds onto Terezi’s left behind scalemate. It sits sadly in Vriska’s arms for hours as she wonders if she there was something she could do. At one point it’s too much for her and Vriska wakes up Mindfang. Of course, the girl is blown off without a second thought. Mindfang did not want to deal with Vriska at the time. Turns out the defending their ships from the navy tired her captain out and so she sleeps when Vriska bothers her. Vriska does not get to say a word before Mindfang kicks her descendant out and told her to go back to her block. The action brings Vriska no comfort and actually hurts the young one's feelings. 

Vriska does not argue or fight it. Instead, she shuffles back to the lonely block that was once shared with Terezi. She finds herself going up to the pile Terezi’s usually sleeps in and throws herself in the mess. Vriska sighs sadly as realizes that being in the pile was a bad idea. Terezi's sent is all over the clothes and reminds her what she is missing. There was no sleep that day for Vriska and the next night proved it. Vriska does almost nothing as everything seems off. To her it was as if Terezi was suppose to be with her and not knowing if the girl was dead or not truly bothered her. Vriska works quietly that night and never realized how lonely she was until Terezi was gone. In her opinion, it was very pathetic to be missing the teal blood so much. Vriska even got mad at herself for being that concerned over her missing friend. Mindfang didn't help as she scolds Vriska ready for her constant zoning out. The girl just could not stop worry over Terezi and won't until she knew what happened. 

Terezi reluctantly does what she is told. Work with food did have its perks. She takes a handful of food when no one is looking and even then some of the other trolls didn't care. One other slave just warns her not to do that in front of the head chef or anyone else with rank. Her second warning was for her to also not eat too much. Apparently, the navy keeps a close eye on food consumption and odd spikes would lead to investigations. Terezi knows that getting caught would be dangerous and so she agrees to be careful. She had to admit that it was nice of the troll not to say anything. Still, she munches on her food by herself while she works and stays away from the three other slaves that work along side her.

Other than the warnings, they do not talk to her and only give her disgusted looks along with disdain. Terezi knows this treatment will last for a while as she stays close to the hired chef. He is in the green hue and only knows how to shout instead of talking. The troll is always yelling even when Terezi is five feet away from him. Terezi finds the habit obnoxious right away and assumes that maybe that is why the other trolls stand further away from him. Even his assistant, a female olive blood, looks annoyed with his constant yelling and every once in a while tells him to lower his voice. It only works for two minutes before the yelling of orders happens once more. Yet, it's not too bad. All Terezi does is stand around and help serve the food or gets sent to go to the back to obtain ingredients. It is all not too hard. 

She does her work night after night. It's boring but not physical. Compared to the other trolls,Terezi knows she has it easy. Some complain about the dangers of working with some of the machines on deck. On her third day there, a younger troll cried as he held onto his bleeding arm. It wasn't until a second glance that Terezi finally noticed that his left hand was missing completely because it got caught in one of the machines. Terezi could not help but to stare at the sight as some of the older slaves tried helping him out. Of course, Terezi was not surprise that the next night a navy officer checked up on him, and stated that he was fine and needed to work. Two nights later and Terezi saw the injury getting worse. Every part of the injury looked infected and Terezi stayed away from him. 

She saw no reason to interact with a troll a disability. He was hurt and was probably going to die soon. That was the simple reality that Terezi had accepted for him. It was depressing to her but she saw much truth in it after she was soon told not to serve him food anymore. It was actually hard for to look him in the eyes and tell him no. Of course, the action only angers the slaves that overheard the conversation. They glared at Terezi and some snicker about her. Yet, she was only following orders. Only a few slaves understood her actions but none come to her defense as some snap at her. Terezi lucks out when the chef comes by her and cause everyone to go silent. There was some irony in all of commotion though. Terezi ate that night and took note that other slaves did too. Yet, none bothered to share their own food with the young troll. A few more days and the troll is dead. His body was thrown overboard, without care, and no one complained about it. 

Time went on and Terezi lost track on how long she was captured. She would guess about a three perigees but was not so sure. It was hard to say with no proper way of telling time. By that point, the ships had already made it's way to land twice. The chef even made her go on land with the assistant to go buy more food for the ship. It almost felt like a test to the Pyrope. They almost made it too easy for her to escape and at one point Terezi found herself alone with a pound of food in her hands. It would have been too easy to run off into the crowds and hid somewhere with the food. This could have been her only chance to escape. Yet, Terezi did take it. Instead, she stayed put and waited for the assistant to get her. It was not as if she was some loyalist to the navy or had her being broken. No. Terezi still planned on escaping with what she could. The only problem was that it felt like a setup and Terezi was far too smart to fall for anything like that. The navy does take notice of her staying put. They become less careful around her. Officers speak of next destinations around her and had no care of Terezi eating what she wanted. There was once where they allowed her to eat before many other slaves. By then, she knew she found favor with the navy. This only made the slaves resent her about the good treatment she got. At that point, Terezi stopped caring. 

All she needed focus was getting away from the navy and Terezi was sure she finally saw her chance. The navy makes another stop on land after a battle with another group of pirates. Many soldiers ended up injured but it was nothing as bad as the dead pirates on the other ship. Unlike Mindfang's band of trouble makers, these pirates didn't stand a chance and were easily annihilated. They were stopping to resupply after losing many items during the fight. "Where's that damn slave...?" The chef calls out and Terezi already knows she is being referred to. She walks out of the storage room and poke her head in the block where she heard her name being called. "Yes, sir?" Terezi asks in a mocking manner. The tone gets ignored as the chef tells her what to do. "Get your shit together. You're going on land by yourself. We lost almost half of our fucking food. So get going!" He states roughly and Terezi could tell that he is having a bad night. His usual shouting does not linger with curses but Terezi never cared. The only thoughts going through her head is that she can run away. A grin comes her face but no one sees it. "Yes sir." She gives him a cruddy salute as she is given money to buy what is needed for the ship. Yet, Terezi was going to keep the food and save what's left of her small wealth. She might never have this opening again and needed to take it now. She quickly turns on her heels. This is her chance.

She quickly gets ready because Terezi knows that she is not coming back. Terezi does not have anything worth taking but she plans on making the most of what she is taking. She will be quick and careful. The first thing Terezi does is steals what she can. She takes a compass, clothing that is too big for her, water, a knife, and rope. She shoved all of these items into a large backpack that made her look even smaller. With some coin in her hands she knew that she was finally running away. Terezi walks up on deck with no care and takes her time getting off the ship. She knows that if she starts acting weirder than normal then someone might catch onto her. Playing it cool is highly important as she walks off the ship. No one stop her. Many are used to seeing her come and go on the ship to retrieve supplies. 

So far, everything is going good. Terezi only heard one troll telling her not to take long and she lies by agreeing. There is almost a thrill from what she is doing. It's a feeling she is not used to but is enjoying every second of it. Yet, she can't take it all in. Terezi just needs to focus on getting away. She does not run at first. Terezi plays along as she enters into a shop in the large city they stopped at. The first thing she needed was food. Luckily they gave her just enough coin to last her for a couple weeks. Yet, some of it might need to go to clothing or transportation. She just needs food, hide her identity, and get as far away from the water as possible. That's her plan as she knew stealing from the navy, and being a runaway, could easily result in her getting culled. Yet, she walks into the shop with confidence. "Welcome." A male troll greeted boredly. He's a green blood. His shade is close to matching Terezi's blood but not quite. “Hey." Terezi acknowledges his presence as she walks up to the counter. She divided the money in advance as she dumps part of it on the counter. "How much food could I get with this?" She asks and he look at the money. The troll looks like he does not want to work but still does his job as he counts how much she had. "Wait here."

He takes what she gave him as he goes to the back of the store. Terezi waits patiently near the counter. She is slightly impatient and Terezi has not even ran away yet. Once the food gets in her hands, then Terezi will be on the run. All she wanted to do was to get far away from the ocean as possible. No one can follow her and then she could...be free? Terezi hums at the thought but does really know what she is going to do after this. Maybe she will just make a hive and just live her life out. Terezi played ideas out in her head but it is almost intimidating now that the chance is actually coming up. That was not going to stop her though. Terezi is headstrong and will figure something out in the end. She just needs to come up with something. As she thinks this through the troll comes back with a medium size sack. “Here.” It is dump on the counter as Terezi reaches for it. “Anything else you need?” He does not sound eager to help her out and is probably wishing for Terezi to say no. “What else do you sell?” Terezi asks unforchantly as he makes a face at the question and looks ready to kick her out. Yet, he does not. “Basic medical supplies and a few weapons. Nothing fancy. Just your basics that we took from some troll who could not pay for what he broke.”

Terezi is sure she does not have enough for both items. She needs to be careful on her spending since she does not have a steady income. Actually, Terezi does not have any income yet. This is a hard choice but she needs to pick. “Uh. What kinda of weapons?” He shuffles under the counter and pulls out a large sword along with a short sword. The large one is out of the question as Terezi is sure she will not be able to carry it for a long time period. “Can I have the small one?” She asks and the seller snorts. “You could buy it!” There is a small laughter from Terezi as she pulls out more coins. “Here.” She dumps it on the table and he does not even look at more than two seconds. “Wriggler, that is not enough. Stop fooling around and get out of my shop!” He shoves the money back her and soon starts put the weapons up. Terezi frowns and does not take the money yet. “What about those medical supplies? Is that offer still on the table?” There is an annoyed grunt from him but nothing more is said. He just does his work with no joy and pulls out a supply box and dumps it on the table without a moment of hesitation. Terezi is almost impress but knows she can not spend anymore time bothering him. She needs to get out of this city and fast.

"Here. Now. Get out. I don't know why you are even bothering me still." Terezi heard him complain as she starts to put the food up in backpack and straps the small medical box to it. She already ran out of room in her backpack but Terezi knows it will lessen up as she starts to eat the food. "Ok! Ok! I'm going. Sheesh." She rolls her eyes and starts making her way out. Terezi never understood why some trolls were such big jerks. It was annoying actually because like every other troll, Terezi wanted respect. Yet, being a tiny teal blooded 6 sweep is not the category that earns such wanted attention. It make crave the glory but...she does not have a clue on what to do. 

Terezi just walks out without saying anymore as she is worried that staying any longer would result in trouble. She walks out and is already bumping into other trolls. It is pack in this market and that is a good thing. More trolls mean it will be easier for her to hide in crowds. All she needs to do is run away before the navy wonders what is taking her so long to return. That makes Terezi giggle. Returning. There is no way she will go back on that ship ever again. It’s almost a joke to her that they actually trusted her to come back on her own. She keeps a small smirk on her face as she pushes through the crowd. There is nothing stopping her from breaking free.


	15. Align

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi's run in and Vriska meets someone she didn't expect to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So this is very short. I poste this just to get something up for you guys. Now that summer is coming, I will be able to write more! Though I am working on other Fics. This one is my main priority though and will be focus on the most. Thank you everyone for your support and kindness! All your reviews and kudos are great motivators for me to write. Please be sure to have a great summer everyone and enjoy this fic and many others to come!

"Ah! Fuck! My shoes..." Terezi studies her near torn shoes and makes face at the shoes. It is sad to say that the shoes are now covered in mud. She did not see the mud puddle and stepped right in it just a few seconds ago. She was upset because the shoes were her favorite. Terezi had got them white and was able to dye it in a shade of red. Yes, the color was poorly showing and was faded to an almost pink. However, she loved those shoes and was sad to see them more messier than usual. It crossed her mind to buy a new pair but her cash was low. Spending money would be highly unwise at the moment. Instead, Terezi decided to suck it up and wear the ruined shoes. She will have to try and clean them some other time because she needed to move. Terezi groan and made her way to the next ride out of this city. "Shit. Now I'm going to have to have my shoes shitty and wet." A few adults look her way as she grumbled down the street. It might have been unwise for her to attract any kind of attention. For once she kept quiet and started quickly moving her way to leave. 

 

She wandered through the crowds as Terezi tried to move quickly. Terezi might have been moving too fast though because she bumped it another troll. The other troll was not happy but it was ok because he was just as small as Terezi. The only difference was that he had fins. "Shit. Huh..sorry you got in my way." Terezi said rudely on purpose as she tried to laugh. The boy could not be much of a threat. He was kind of a shorty. Yet, Terezi stared at his face and knew he looked familiar. She was trying to connect the dots in her mind and it does click. However, it only worried Terezi. If she correct then he was Dualscar's descendent. Terezi could not remember his name though. Actually Terezi never really knew it in the first place. Though he unfortunately recognized her. There a knowing look in his eyes as he was trying to remember exactly who she was. The moment is awkward for Terezi as she tried to take a moment to think up a plan. Yet, nothing in the world could help her as he squints his eyes. "Hey! I remember you!" The quickly frowns and points to her even though they are close to each other. "You're that troll pirate." The comment makes Terezi groan. She shakes her head and hides her face I'm her hands for a couple of seconds. She does not like being associated with pirates. Being associated as a pirate is the last thing she ever wants. Yet, that is how they met, and Terezi knows this. So she doesn't argue with him. That will only attract more attention. Instead she just nods her head first and talks to him. "Yeah, you caught me. Evil pirate here. Don't mind me. Just doing stupid pirate crap like setting hives on fire and looting." He looks confuse by the comment as he did not expect her to say that. However, most people are unable to predict what will come out of Terezi mouth. So she keeps talking. "So I'm just going to...leave...now. Don't tell anyone that you saw me!" She told him as the other trolls frowns at her. She was a weird troll after all and Eridan was sure she might be completely right in the head. "I can not just let you go! You belong to the navy." The comment annoys Terezi to no end as she does her best to not punch him. The boy is clearly decorated in military clothing and hitting him might attract attention. They are still out in public after all and Terezi will not let some spoiled highbloods get in the way of her freedom. "Come on! Don't be a loser! Just pretend you didn't see me." Terezi keeps complain in hopes it will be enough to get him off her back. "What do you even want? I'm not really a pirate. I hate them." This makes the boy raise an eyebrow as he almost doesn't believe her. "You were I'm a pirate ship...but you're not a pirate? The fuck?" Terezi groans as she tries to quickly explain it all to him. "I was taken in as wriggler. Ok? I thought it was fucking stupid. Come on...uh."

 

"Eridan." He states his name proudly while Terezi does not fully care. "Yeah. Eridan. What do you say? If you let me go I promise on my dead ancestor to behave. Promise! I wanna be a crime fighter and bring justice to all!" Eridan oddly tries to hold back a smile from her comment. She sees it and it does remind Terezi that he is a kid just like her. "Does that include pirates?" She nods her head proudly and raises her right hand as if she was in court. "Yeah it does!" The answer was enough for Eridan as he too gives her a quick nod. "Fine. I won't tell anyone but if I see you again, I'm reporting you." He threatens and Terezi laughs. There is no need to take him serious anymore. He is letting her go after all. "You're not that bad Eridan! Boring ...but not bad!" He frowns at the comment. "I'm not boring! I'm the best person to be around! My morial is the princess herself. How many low or high bloods could say that?! Only me!" There is a bragging tone in his voice as he is clearly proud. Terezi can not really blame him if he was telling the truth. She would love to know the princess. Though it almost made sense that he might know her. According from what Terezi can tell, he is high on the hemospectrum. She just didn't think he was that high. "Oh. That's still lame. So...bye Eridan. I guess you're kinda cool for letting me go." Terezi grins and starts to run off again and waves a goodbye to Eridan. He rolls his and and does give a huff as Terezi runs off. She makes sure to move quicker this time. She does not know if if he will really keep his promise. He could tell on her the moment he gets back on the ship and even though they were on land, that does not mean troops won't go after her. Maybe they will just have an award for her capture. They could just have her killed. Terezi does not know everything about the Empire but she knows enough to where she will fear the moment she runs into the navy again. Terezi knows that there are no such things as second chances. As soon as she gets to a less crowded area, Terezi starts sprinting. She runs further away and does not look back. 

 

Vriska is sure that nothing will ever the same. Being the youngest on the ship is boring. No one is interested in playing with her and everytime she tries to drag Mindfang into her games it ends with her being shoved off to the side. Then she if Mindfang was really not in the mood then Vriska would find herself being threaten with hard labor for not leaving her alone. It was annoying but Vriska is already accepting the fact that Terezi is dead. Vriska finds herself sadden and it shows in her performance. Vriska started making more mistakes in her training. She slacks off more and does not interact well with anyone. Well, she was never that great at interaction but it was worse now. Mindfang sees this at one point and that is why they are on land, looking at slaves. Since there was navy in the area, it was easy to make a quick detour. Plus, they were short in slaves since a few got a horrible illness and that forced Mindfang to throw many of them overboard to save the the rest of her slaves and crew. Well, that what she told Vriska. They probably would have not got sick if her ancestor knew how to provide them basic medical care. But Mindfang always said they were expendable. So now they are looking at the slaves outside in a market place. It was as if they doing regular shopping and it was slightly accurate that they were doing that. All of them looked tired and had an almost had a sickly look on their faces. "Go to the far end. I believe they might have some trolls your age there, Vriska." Mindfang advise as she looked over the more fit trolls. "And don't pick one with attitude!" She calls out as Vriska sulks pass many trolls who clearly had it worse than her. Vriska can not help but to still miss Terezi. Buying a friend might not do the trick but she just needed to be around someone her age. 

  
"Ok! Ok! I'll pick a good one." Vriska does not care that she sounds annoyed because she knows that even though her and Terezi were more competitors, they still looked out for each other. She is sure no slave could match what Terezi had to offer. Vriska is sure of that as she looks at all their faces. The trolls her age look at her with curiosity and others with bitterness. Vriska knows she would too if she was enslaved, but she wasn't. Vriska a free troll and she just needs to pick. The first caged trolls were nothing special. None of the look like they would be able to keep up with Vriska. The second group looked a little more promising. If only they weren't glaring at her so much. Then she might be more than willing to take one back on the ship with her. There is no point in bringing them back if they were going to be such poor sports about their lives. So she remembers one or two trolls she might consider as she moves on. Vriska keeps walking past all the cages. It was by until she got to the second to last did she a troll that caught her attention. "Well, well! What do we have here?" Vriska asked as she approached the cage closer. This was something unexpected as a few of the captured trolls tried to remain as far away from Vriska as possible. Yet, one stood out as the troll within the cage glares. Vriska accepts the challenge. Vriska keeps grinning mockingly back as she kept looking at Aradia. 


	16. The Slave, Pirate, and Courier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska is buying Aradia and Terezi needs a job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, this is a bit shorter than what I normally post. Yet, I do not want to keep you guys waiting. So here is a brand new chapter! Lets see what mess will soon unfold.

Even though sweeps have passed, Vriska still remembers her. Aradia. The same troll Vriska hated. Yet, the standing is no longer equal. It’s far from it actually. Aradia is behind bars with nothing much on her but the rags given her by the slavers. She looked like she lost a lot weight, and Vriska knew it had to do with the lack of food given to them along with possible forced labor. Yet, Aradia did not look like skin and bones. Not yet. All she probably had was a couple of meals held from her for some time, and it makes Vriska wonder how long she has been a captive. "I never thought I would see little Miss lowblood again." Vriska grins as Aradia doesn't look too happy to see the Serket. "Why are you here?"

"We need more slaves on ship. Who do you think does all the work?! Mindfang says there no point in constantly paying trolls when you can just do one down payment to own them for life!" Vriska gave Aradia a grin that doesn't sit in well with the other girl. Aradia cross her arms and gives Vriska a disapproving look. There is definitely something wrong with Vriska's think pan. Aradia wonders why Terezi puts up with this because Vriska is already annoying her. "Stop giving me that stupid look!" Vriska finally complains after Aradia continues to show her disappointed in Vriska. She always knew that Vriska was trouble but this is something she never expected. She didn't think for once that Tavros would get hurt or that her village would be raided by greedy highbloods. She did not expect to be captured and thrown in the slave trade, but it's sad to say she is not surprise. Even though her tiny village just consisted of lowbloods, fear of the Empire still got its way around. Aradia would hear the rumors and stories but never thought she would be a part of it. Even when a group of trolls came passing through the village considered the Empire dangerous. Yet, they still spoke against it. Aradia wishes now that remembered what that troll called himself. Maybe if she believed of the reality that went on outside her village, she might not be in the slave market. Unfortunately, now it is far too late. Aradia sees one of the slavers walk up to them. She stays silent as Aradia knows what will happen if she doesn't. Vriska grins as she points Aradia. "I want her. My Captain will pay for her."

With a nod of the slavers head he opens up the cage. "Get over here rustblood. Looks like you are finally get sold." Aradia isn't too eager to move but she's seen what slavers do. These trolls seem to get a sick thrill from torturing and hurting those in their captivity. Aradia managed to avoid the troubles so far but if she does not listen now then she will surely be beaten. "Yeah. Hurry up!" Vriska demands too in order to also try and intimidate Aradia. It's not working and it is really pathetic actually. The threats from Vriska mean nothing and just makes Aradia view Vriska only as a bitch. Vriska might have been a jerk when they first met but now....well. She's clearly more corrupt now. Tavros became crippled because of her and the boy was lucky to not be in the village at the time of the raid.

In fact, almost half of the trolls that were supposed to be there were not that night the slavers came. Tavors left three nights before the raid to be taken to a nearby town to get eternal medical treatment. Others went out to trade or to hunt during the time the slavers came. However, even when the slavers came some trolls were able to fight them off or escape. Aradia was one that tried to escape until she went down the wrong path along with a few other trolls. They ended up quickly surrounded and captured. Many were slaughtered. Some for being too rebellious, sick, injured, or weak. After that, chains and shackles were placed on them as they were guided on a ship. Since then, Aradia has been moved to five different places and this time she happens to run into a troll she didn't expect to see again. It actually eats her up knowing she is being sold to Vriska. Vriska gives her bad vibes and she did not expect her to be anywhere this much of a trouble. Yet, she doesn't fight when they drag her out if the cell. Aradia doesn't complain when they shove her forward to Vriska.

Mindfang happens to be walking to them and Aradia finally gets the first glance at the troll that cause a lot of this mess. Maybe it was not Mindfang’s fault that she was enslaved but it was trolls like her that cause a lot of suffering. The way Mindfang looks Aradia over makes her feel uncomfortable. “Oh, lovely pick, Vriska. I have yet to see a troll with such unique horns.” Mindfang makes the comment and reaches out to have a rough grip on her left horn. There is a purposeful tug on Aradia’s horn that annoys her but she does not say anything about it. Vriska just keeps a satisfied grin on her face as she knows Aradia is uncomfortable with the action. “Maybe we should cut them off and hang them in your block.” She gives a wicked laugh at her own comment as and Vriska only joins just to suck up to her. “What do you say little wriggler? Should I cut off your horns? You will only be in severe pain for the rest of your life. Don’t answer that. I don’t know how well these amateurs have trained you but you are not allowed to speak to me without my permission. I am your Captain now, and Vriska owns you.” The comment brings more a smile to Vriska’s face than her usually grin that looks identical to Mindfang’s. “And trust me girl. I do not like to hear my slaves talk. So get in line with the others. We have quite the journey ahead of us.” 

 

-

 

Terezi is honestly surprise how well this is going. After illegally hopping on the closest Empire hover vehicle, she stays hidden very well until she knows she arrived to her destination. Well, she didn't really have a plan where she was going. She was just trying to get away from the water as best she can. Terezi assumes she does since she stated cramp in a tiny space for several hours. When she finally sneaks off, there is no water in sight. Terezi grins as she walks away from all trolls around her casually. No one seems to care it notice get as they probably think she is just passing by....and she is. Terezi soon finds herself in a city. A very large. Maybe a bit too big for her comfort. There are trolls everywhere, and of all shades too. Everyone and everything is bigger than her. Trolls and buildings tower over her as she finds a small bench to sit on to give herself a moment to take it all in. Terezi pulls out a map and starts going over it. She doesn't have a clue where she will go or what she will do with her life. Maybe she should find a job within the city. She's healthy enough to work and it beats being a pirate. Any job would better than being a pirate. Terezi just needs to find something that will fit her. She doesn't want to ever be considered anything close to a pirate. She actually took a few ads and started going through them in hopes to fun something useful to do. Most were temporary hard labor job that most lowbloods were stuck doing.

Even though Terezi knows he is better than that but the rest of the jobs seem to involve working for the government. As interesting that sounds, she just finished running away from the navy. "Mmmmm." Maybe she would wait some time before looking into those kinds of jobs. Attracting attention now would be unwise, or it just simply be her being paranoid. She didn't know. Terezi. Just needs a job just do she won't starve to death. That would be pathetic. Soon, she sees something decent enough. Courier. A lot of traveling and walking will be required of her. That's fine by her. She doesn't have a hive and this is a great chance for her to explore the territory of the empire. Terezi finally gets to know what the big deal of her homeworld's government. Nothing cans go wrong with this as she makes her mind to try and take the job. Terezi stands and starts following the instructions of where to apply.

To her surprise, there really is no applying. She walks inside a large shop with trolls walking around. Terezi looks around and finds a troll at the counter. A blueblood. An uninterested female blueblood. "Hey. That courier job open?" Terezi questions and slams the ad on the counter. She is forced to stand on her toes just to reach the high counter. "Hm? Aren't you a bit tiny for the job? Get out of here wriggler." The blueblood dismiss Terezi right away. "What? No! I'm not tiny! I could do it. Fuck you." Terezi state with rudeness never leaving her time. "Watch your mouth wriggler. That's a great way to get culled in this area. If you want a damn job do bad then take it, but don't come crying back when you can't handle the work." Terezi grinned as the blueblood points behind the counter. "Packages are in the back. I hope you can read or else you won't last long her. Give the packages to the right people and that's it. Not even a wriggler like you can mess this up." Terezi nods her head in excitement. This can't be too hard. Giving people packages can't be hard at all. Any troll can do it so why can't Terezi?

So she went to the back to see why they had for her. It is a good thing she took a backpack when leaving the navy's ship. It's already stuffed with everything she owns. Luckily it's big enough to carry a few more items but once she sees everything she would need to carry, she realize that she might not have enough room. Terezi is only able to stuff 3 small packages on her backpack before there is not even an inch left. Terezi frowns at the sight as she knows there is not much to do. She looks around the large room to find something to help her out. In the corner lay a messenger bag. It might not belong to her but it is now. Terezi looks around and does not see any troll around that looks like it belongs to them. It looks a bit old with slight dirt covering the tan color it has. Terezi walks up to it and picks it put. There is nothing in the bag and she shrugs.

Terezi turns around to find another worker standing not far, looking at a chart intensely. “Who’s is this?” Terezi questions and hold up the bag. The troll only glances her way before commenting. “Uh, it was from a troll that got killed three night ago. Used to work here. Why do you think we got an opening, wriggler?” Terezi gives a questionable hum and nods her head. “Cool! Can I keep it?”

“Sure. I don’t care. Just leave me alone. I got a lot of work to do.” 

Terezi grins and straps it on along with her backpack. It fits perfect and it gives her more places to carry her things. At least now she got a free bag with it. All it took was a troll dying for her to have it. It doesn’t feel weird to be taking from the dead. All she cares is that things are working a lot in her favor. Terezi is now able to pack the rest of the packages she needs to give out. After glancing at some of the addresses, she knows she will be going to some pretty far places.

However, this might work out in her favor. Now she will be able to explore Alternia and be able to get a better understanding as to why she was also taught differently than the average troll. There is just something abnormal occurring that Mindfang did not want her to know. Why else would Terezi know little to nothing about her ancestor? She is tired of the never knowing what is going on. Terezi is always feeling in the dark and now she will finally have the chance to get down to understand the confusion she was forced to live in. Terezi is actually slightly grateful that she got captured by the navy. If she never did then she would still be stuck on Mindfang’s ship. Nothing would have changed. The thought sends a chill down her spine as Terezi is ready to leave to go on her journey. She does not want to think about living an ignorant life following Mindfang. Sure she had Vriska. Yet, it was all just ridiculous on how she was going to be forced into the pirate trade. Terezi is not some pathetic lowblood that is accepting of their fate. No! Terezi promise to fight all to the end even if she has to kick and scream to the end. She does not need Mindfang’s pity to get by in this world. Terezi is a teal blood. She can get by just fine and she is not afraid to prove it to the world. She just needs to start somewhere, and this job will be her key. Make money, interrogate some trolls, and investigate about her ancestor more. She does not know what she will do after that.   
Terezi makes a questionable look as she secures her things. What will she do after all this mess is done? She does not think that ahead since….well, it is something she does not have a clue about. Terezi will just do this one step out of time. With a confident expression she walks out of the shop and into the bustling streets. The crowds are huge and loud, and Terezi can easily blend into the trolls all around her. She glance at the first addresses she needs to go to. A smaller town up north. Far in the deep parts of Alterina’s land. It will take maybe a few days for her to get there but it beats being on a ship with a bunch of pirates. She sure hopes Vriska is planning on making a career change as well.


	17. Theft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi has a little run in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this up! Sorry for the wait. There was a lot of cleaning this chapter needed but I was so busy. It's still up though!

To Terezi's surprise, she was handling her new job very well. The job was never too hard. Sure, some days she was forced to take shelter in a cave to prevent major sunburns. Other days she was lucky and had enough coin on her to spend some time in a decent inn. Those days were great. She could get up when she wanted as she sleep until she felt like getting up. It was weird having so much freedom. Terezi was used to following orders Mindfang would bark at her. Yet, she is a free troll. No one can tell her what to do. Well, maybe her boss tell her what to do but it's almost nothing. This is mostly because of Terezi's constant traveling. In fact, she has been traveling for almost 4 nights already. There are a few deliveries she needed to do in the upcoming city. However, there was one main reason why she is heading there. Terezi needs to deliver a special letter. The letter is to some highblood from what Terezi could tell. It must be important or something because the first thing she noticed when she got it was the letter is an official Empire letter. It even had the Empress's seal on it. Fancy. Terezi wanted to open it several times. Oh, she truly does. She can't though. Terezi is sure they will cut off her hands for doing that, and Terezi enjoys keeping her hands. 

The temptation will be over soon though. She just entered the city where she is to deliver the letter. It's pack tight everywhere in the city as she walks. The more trolls that bump into her, the more she realizes she is getting tired. It takes a lot of effort to not fall over. Terezi has been walking for maybe more than 7 hours. The break she took was at midnight and that was only to eat quickly. Dawn will be arriving shortly and it might be too late to make a deliver. Well, she just does not want to make one this late. Terezi is cold, hungry, and very tired. So she will call it a day and now finding an inn is her next goal. She pushes her way through the crowd as everyone is trying to get to their hive before the sun comes up and burns everyone to a crisp. Terezi wants to avoid any of that. So she keeps walking past all of the other trolls as Terezi drags her feet. The city is far too large for her liking since she is already been walking a long distance. It does not help that she entered in the slum area of the city. Terezi wishes she picked a nicer entry into the city. There are way too many trolls with shifty eyes and twitching fingers. 

After another 5 minutes of walking, she finally finds a small inn to stay in for the day. Terezi walks in and is right away greeted with a few trolls drinking and another group just talking. Terezi sluggishly makes her way to the front desk. A brown blood is standing there with a surprisingly happy face. Most trolls always seemed annoyed with Terezi's presence. She has to assume it's because of her young age or her lack of knowledge on how Alternia functions. None were her fault of course. Yet, Terezi does want to change that. She wants something more than that. The only problem is she just doesn't know what she really wants. Terezi sighs mentally in her head as she walks up to the desk. "One block for just the day." She pulls out some money slams it on the desk. That's one bad habit she still does and Terezi doesn't even know it. The brownblood nods his head and swoops up the money. He doesn't even bother to count it. Terezi wonders for a second if he can even count. The thought might be insulting but it wasn't wrong if there was some truth to it.

He hands her a room key and points down one hallway. "Third one to the right. Have a good day." He states as Terezi snatches the key with a tired grin. "Thanks." Maybe if she wasn't so tired then she would have sound more enthusiastic. Without a second thought, she sluggishly starts to make her way to the block that was assigned to her. At this point, she would be making annoying sounds out of pure tiredness. Yet, making random noises in a walkway would only led other trolls to think that she wasn't right in the think pan. That's one good way to get singled out anywhere. Luckily, she is already near her block and it's too late to make any effort to complain. She shoves the key inside the lock and opens the door. "Yesss. I can die in peace now." Terezi states after taking a look around the too  
The room is nicer than what she was expecting. Then again, Terezi didn't have high standards. Maybe to another troll if her color or higher would find the place shabby. The inn is located in the more poor side of the city. Still, the wooden walls are fairly decent and the carpet isn't too bad but it obvious it could use a good, or better, cleaning. Yet, what makes the block perfect is the coon in the middle of the block. It looks inviting to Terezi as she makes her way to it. She removes her clothing and backpack on the way over there. All she can think about is a comfortable day's rest. It brings a lazy smile to her face as she jumps right in. 

It's not the best slim she has ever slept in but it sure is better than the days she was forced to hide a cave during her long travels. She yawns and sinks further into the slim with a relaxed expression on her face. Maybe she did pick a decent career path. Sure it was tiring and discouraging....and well, she also doesn't get paid a lot. She especially does not get paid enough for her blood color. Also she got lost several times. Then Terezi almost ran out of food at one point. Ok, she is wrong. Her job does suck! Ever badly. Damn she hates it with a passion. No wonder many lowbloods are always miserable. This sucks. Terezi groans at the thought, and just tried to bury herself further into the goo and almost touches the bottom. This is definitely not what she wants to do for the rest of her life. Her life would be terrible. She is a teal blood. She could do so much more. From her little knowledge, Terezi does know that her caste does do a lot of law studies. Criminal justice is an interesting field, she will admit. Though she is young. Way too young. They will just laugh at her and turn her down quickly. Terezi doesn't know why she picks the day time to think about how much her life is a mess. Though, she figures they are plenty of other trolls doing the same as her. Not wanting to think anymore about it, Terezi shuts her eyes tightly and forces herself to try and sleep.

It is not until an hour before Terezi does sleep. Despite her extreme tiredness, Terezi finds her mind rushing with too many thoughts of what ifs. It eats her at her think pan until her body can't keep up with her mind anymore. Soon, it's sleep time for Terezi, and when she wakes up, she only feels slightly recharged. Terezi wakes up later than expects. A good chunk of the evening is gone by the time Terezi crawls out of her pod. She yawns loudly and groans as a few bones pop when she stretches. "Man, I'm already fucking late." Terezi mumbles as she takes a quick glance at the clock on the wall. Yet, she doesn't rush still. There's no point in rushing since all she will do is hand some highblood some some letter and that is it. She might stay in the city for another night to relax. She does have enough money to have another stay. Terezi finds her backpack and pulls out a simple white shirt and black pants. "I need more clothes." 

She sighs and knows better than to put on clothing right after getting out of a pod. The slim rarely stains but since Terezi is always on the go, washing is something she needs to do but it's a real chore since she is always on the go. It doesn't matter though. Terezi does have another saved two outfits that are have avoided getting worn so far. Terezi just take her clean clothes with her to so that way she can bathe first. It is a good thing that her temporary block comes with a trap to get cleaned in. 

It only takes her a few minutes to get ready. She washed the goo off of her and wears her decent clothing. Wearing white and black is never fun and she would give anything to find a shirt splattered in diverse colors. Maybe something different for once. It doesn't matter though. Her shoes are teal and black. They did cost her a pretty penny but Terezi is glad that she bought it since her last pair started getting major holes in them. She then throws on her backpack along with her messaged bag. She already found a nice patch with her sign and color to have it placed on her backpack since she almost fought a troll once claiming it was theirs. It also makes her feel a little special to show off her sign and blood. Terezi did always feel off being on Mindfang's ship. Now...it feels almost right to wear her sign. She wants to feel proud of her blood but it's hard when Terezi does not have a clue of what it means to be a tealblood. She can't complain though. Terezi's away from Marquise now. It's just a shame though that she is alone now. 

Maybe she could make some new friends in this city. The place is big. All she needs to do is leave the crummy side of the city and head to where the blues and greens live. The last thing she needs is having some lowbloods try to take her stuff. Without making another noise she leaves her block. There are two trolls in the hallway. One talking quietly to the other. They do not bother looking Terezi's way. Terezi doesn't try to eavesdrop for once in her life when she walks past by them. There are never any good conversations between a lot of lowbloods. All Terezi hears is how bad their lives. Sure it sucks. Terezi gets it. sometimes she genuinely feels really bad for them. Yet, she is stuck in her own little world right now. Terezi is looking out for number one and she can not get caught up with the affairs of others. 

She leaves the inn with no trouble as the moon is out and a light breeze is in the air. It's a little too cool to her liking. "What's up with this dumb weather. At day its hot. Night I will freeze. Fuck this." Terezi complains to no one. It helps that there are no trolls directly out in front of the inn. Maybe she should get a jacket or something. She does have enough to get something light. Plus, it's not like she will freeze to death. A light sweater should help. Especially since she was in the far northern part of the Empire. Her travels happened to send her to one of the more cold parts, but due to the season, it's no where near cold as it would be in the next few months. It sure is a good thing that Terezi does not plan on staying that long. At least she could enjoy the warm temperatures when she leaves this place. However, she was going to be here for another few nights. So she might as well be comfortable during her time. It also did not hurt to prepare so she does not freeze later on. 

Terezi walks down the street with a bunch of lowbloods avoiding her or bumping into her. There is no in between when Terezi walks down these Alternia streets. She keeps looking around for a shop that would sell her a simple sweater for her to wear. There is a large shop that looks decent enough even though a few hiveless trolls are lingering around it. Terezi stares at them as most of them don’t seem ready to bother her. She walks up to the store and does not take her time going inside. It’s luckily that not pack inside. There are a few trolls in there but the size of the place makes it feel roomy. A voice greets her and the female troll is placing something on a shelf to where Terezi could not see her blood out of curiosity. She doubt it's anything higher over green though. 

Terezi walks to the area that has all sorts of clothing. There's nothing really close to her blood color in the store. It looks like Terezi is forced to wear black once more unless she is willing to go broke in a middle blood store. Terezi starts looking at her options until someone bumps into her. "Hey!" Terezi complain and glares at the troll the dares to not notice her standing there. Sure she is a bit on the short side but this is ridiculous already. What doesn't she have to do to be notice on Alternia?! What annoys her more is the fact that some letters fall from her messenger bag from the force. Yet, the troll doesn't seem too sorry. He already looks like a jerk. There is only a quick look to Terezi and to the five scattered letters on the floor. Terezi could have sworn that his eyes dilated the moment he saw one of the letters. However, Terezi is already quickly picking up the letters from the floor. She quickly picks up two and shoved them in her bag again. Before she could grab the rest, the troll gets a hold of one of the letters off of the ground. It's the main one. That letter is the main reason she is there and she does not want someone's dirty fingers all over something that could be important. Well, Terezi doubts it's anything major but still! She was entrusted with it even though she does give a real damn about some stupid letters and packages. 

To her surprise, the troll that picks up the letter does not hand it back to her right away. She glares at the troll and speaks up right away. "That's mine." Terezi reaches out to snatch it back but the troll is so much taller than her. He's able to keep it out of Terezi's hand that it's almost a joke. "Whoa! Chill the fuck out brat. Just looking at wha you got. Don't fucking cry like a bitch over nothing." He sees the emblem with no trouble. Terezi can tell. It only makes her more worried. “I think I am going to keep this. A fucking wriggler doesn’t need this crap.” He shoves Terezi harder than what she would have expected. Even though she did not see it coming, the force is still enough to make her stumble backwards into the rack behind her. “Hey!” She yells out in annoyance. Yet, he grabs on to the letter tightly….and sprints off with it. Terezi reacts quickly and tries to follow. It does take her a moment to get her step back after the shove but she does not take a second later to follow. Terezi moves forward and runs after the troll that would dare steal from her. What sucks is that it is something that is not her’s. She only has one job and it’s to get this letter from one place to another. Now she might not even get that done. 

Terezi runs out the store but damn he is fast. She can only trail behind when she gets to the streets. Other trolls only glance at her way. None look ready to help her out. Not that she expected that. Lowbloods look out for each other after all. She doesn't need the help though. Terezi catches a him her vision running south. She runs after him and Terezi does her best to not let any troll slow her down. They run to the next block before the thief turns into an alley. Without hesitation, Terezi follows. Luckily no one is in the alley and Terezi has a clear sight of him. He's too fast though. Way too fast for her. Terezi is already seeing more distance between them. "Stop!" Terezi yells out to him as she sees him go down to the through the maze of alleys. It's clear he intent to get away but Terezi won't let him.

Her blood pusher is beating fast. Her shoes keep stomping on the ground. Terezi is already taking fast air and she doesn't know how much longer it will take for her to get too tired to follow. She keeps running though. Soon he makes another sharp turn. However, it isn't to the Main Street or another alley. He run down to a cellar. It was conveniently open for him but not for Terezi. He jumps down inside and shut the cellar behind him. When Teezi arrives, she is out of breathe. "No! Fuck." She kicks the cellar but it doesn't open. "Open this fucking door!" She shouts in anger. Yet, she only heard one comment from the other side. "Fuck you! You're a little errand troll for this fucking empire! Mine now!" Terezi kicks on the cellar door one last time before running around the building. She wants to find another entrance. If she can't enter through one way then she will find another. No way is Terezi going to let him get away with this. The building is made out of brick and it looks pretty big. It looks discouraging. Terezi runs to the from and there is a door there. She partially bashes into the door with her tiny body. It doesn't budge one bit. "Ah! Fuck!" She falls to the ground after running into the door with no success. Terezi jumps up to her feet again. "Hey! Open up! I know you're in there!" She yells and to her surprise, it opens up. Yet, the theft is not at the door. It's another troll. No. There are several trolls. Yet, before Terezi could say anything else one female grabs her by the front of the shirt and pulls her in. The action was fast and forceful. Terezi couldn't fight it and is now quickly starting to regret her actions. 

The door gets slammed behind her and the room she is in is dim. This is not the place she wants to be as she is surrounded by around five trolls. All of them looking aggressive to her. Terezi almost wants to shake but is in a shock state that she just stands as close to the door as possible. She wants to run. She should run. Though Terezi is finding it hard to do so. It doesn't help that a lowblood is hovering near the door with a glare on his face. All the trolls look like lowbloods. Reds and browns primarily. Okay. This is a huge mistake on her part. They look like they could easily best her up or kill her. The group is clearly older than her. They may look hungry but still look fit enough to deal with her. Terezi is about to speak up but she gods herself getting dragged further inside. That's when she starts to panic. Terezi tried pulling away. She sink her nails into the troll's skin but it does almost nothing other than break a little bit of skin. "Let go!" Terezi shouts but being surrounded only make her feel hopeless. When they enter another block one starts speaking. "Be quiet! You're way too loud." One complains. The troll holding her keeps a firm grip on her as they keep a hold of her in the new block. The only thing in there is a few chairs and a few boxes. It looks more like a storage block. "Yeah. Play along and you'll walk out just fine." Terezi huffs in annoyance. "Just give me back my letter!"

"Letter?" A female troll gives Terezi a questionable look. "Yeah. One of your friend stole from me!" She shouts at them and right away a guy groans. "She's talking about the Empire one." Terezi nods her head before she's taken to a chair to sit down. She doesn't want to but there's no chance she will have a saying in the matter. "Oh great. An Empire jockey."

"You know you ain't getting that shit back, wriggler?" 

Terezi glares at them as she stays seated on a wooden chair. She doesn't like where this is going. All of them seem aware of what is going on and none of them look ready to help her out. "Then let me fucking go." Terezi complains but the sma group just turns around to leave. "Not yet. We gotta make sure you won't rat us out. Stay here, wriggler and shut up. You'll be fine if you do." With that they start to leave to the door as Terezi stands up. She wants to follow but by the time she makes up her mind to run, the door gets slammed shut. "Fuck!" Terezi runs to the door but it's lock. She still has her bag with her but there nothing useful in it. Well, food and clothing is with her, but nothing she could use to escape. 

Terezi finds herself in there for a few hours. It might around ten hours. Maybe even more. She did nothing during that time except look around and eat her snacks. It's isn't until she hears voices on the other side is when Terezi gets her felt ready for anything to happen. Seconds later, the door opens. However, Terezi doesn't recognize any of them. The group of four trolls enter calmly inside. They seem a lot more calm...and passive compared to the random group of trolls that just locked her up. 

Terezi looks at the trolls curiously. She doesn't show fear. Fear is the enemy. For some reason, they think she works for the empire and Terezi will not cower. She may not be a big fan of the empire too, because of her still lacking knowledge of it, but Terezi won't act guilty. If she looks too fearful now then they will think she is doing something wrong. Which she's not. So she refuses to let any indication that she's actually a little anxious. One troll hovers over her, a yellowblood. He's way too tall and lanky. She can tell that this troll is only looking like that from a lack of consistent food. Yet, the occasional electric spark from his eyes is concerning enough to Terezi. "Whoa. Who the hell are you guys?" Terezi finally questioned. She didn't know what else to say as she keep looking at the unusual group. They almost looked a little caught off guard with her appearance as she does with them. Yet one of them manages to speak first. It is the one that oddly stands out the most out of the entire group just because he is the only one not wearing any kind of color other than the dark gray his cloak. Terezi can't even see his eyes properly because of his hood. Troll eyes maybe excellent in seeing in the dark but he covers himself perfectly. It almost feels as if he had sweeps of practice.

The other two just look at her closely. It almost bothers Terezi. She doesn't like this one bit even though they are not acting aggressive in anyway. It isn't until one speaks up is when Terezi calms down just a little bit.   
"We are all trolls here, young one. If you must know more then you may call me Signless." He speaks calmly and smooth. For some reason, Terezi feels more at ease around this troll. There is something about the way he presents himself that makes her feel like she could trust him. Maybe it was the way he spoke to her. It might be the way he slowly removes his hood from his covered face. He seems ready to trust Terezi. As much as she wanted to admire that, she almost can not. This Signless guy is a fool. No troll in their right pan would ever just trust a random strange. Alternia is just far too dangerous for that. Anyone could just kill you and take what you have. Maybe someone would find it more profitable to sell you on the market. Either way, Terezi is no fool. She knows too well of the dangers of Alternia and is tired of always being the victim. She knows too much of always ending up in harm's way. It sickens her and she knows that listening to this troll, and not leaving now, will probably be a huge mistake. “Why are you called that? That’s kinda stupid.” 

Terezi keeps her distance but allows her curiosity to take the best of her. Though she keeps an eye on them closely for any sudden movements. Yet, even though Terezi might look like the jumpy kind, the adults look a lot more calm than her. “As you might have guess, I do not have a sign.” 

“No way. Everyone has one.” Terezi responds quickly with a knowing smile on her face. Does he think he could fool her? Terezi is not stupid. A sign is something basic for everyone. There is no way he could not have a sign at one point or another. He smiles kindly though before responding to her, and it is then when Terezi can get a peek at his blood color from his eyes. “I suppose I am special then.”


	18. Remember Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi has a conversation with a lot of trolls in a short time period.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I've been super busy with school and trying to fight other students for internship(im winning btw). So things have been very busy for me. Not only that but I'm still ill (and will always be) but also been trying to keep up with my other hobbies! Luckily I am taking a break from a few of those. However, my studies have been high this summer and this fall. I don't see this updating very fast but it will continue. So did not worry about that. Either way, i hope you enjoy!

Terezi found the new group to be very curious. They were a weird bunch and Terezi was not used to being around trolls like this. Now they did not act peculiar or seem like bad trolls. No, not at all. They were just too nice to her. Food was eventually offered to Terezi and so was an explanation as to why she ended up locked in that block for a while. This is all throwing the tealblood off and makes her almost feel uncomfortable. Terezi has her high suspicions even after the food sits comfortable in her stomach and they offer to take her out of the block she was locked in. Terezi does follow but stays cautious around the adults. It was not until Terezi gives them questionable look is when things started getting explained to her. As they walk, Signless spoke up. "A few of the trolls here thought you worked for the empire, and assumed that you were a threat. I apologize for the confusion. I can tell you were just simply minding your own business." Terezi snickers at the comment but is not really all that upset by it. She just wants to get to bottom of things. That is why she follows them into another block. A very nice block that has fine furniture and just looked overall clean compared to the side of the city they were in. "A threat?" Signless nods his head but there was hesitation. "It is complicated." He does not say more one the subject but Terezi still waits for more. Once she does not get she knows she needs to poke into it. "Why?" 

"Well, sometimes...the empire does not have people's best interest in mind, and they do not like it when some trolls disagree with them." He explains carefully but Terezi is quick to say something. "Blah. Do you hate the empire too?!" The jadeblood raises an eyebrow at the comment but does not say anything right away. Though Terezi could tell that she had something on her mind. The Psiioniic looks be zoning out from the conversation, and Terezi could guess that he wasn't fully interested in hearing the conversation. Even then, he still stays close by. Luckily, the oliveblood seems to be the only one in the block fully aware of everything going on around her. "Oh? Do you know someone who might not like what they do?" Signless questions and even though the conversation could get them all in trouble, Terezi just takes a seat and enjoys how comfortable it is. "Yeah. Unfortunately. She's a real jerk. All she likes to do is be criminal. It's kind of stupid." Terezi states as she refer to Mindfang. Luckily, they do not know of the pirate but from the reaction they understand what Terezi means. Mindfang is not a rebel with a cause. She is a criminal. She is a troll that cuts people down and steals what they have. She's greedy and probably never cared about Terezi one bit. It disgusts Terezi to even know her and it will always eat her up knowing that she raised her. She does not care what other people think about Mindfang. She always be evil in her eyes. 

"I'm sorry to hear that. Does this troll hurt other trolls?" Signless asks as he takes a sit in on of the chairs. He is trying to look comfortable but maybe the subject made it slightly difficult. "I guess. Do slaves count?" Terezi questions. 

There is a quick hard glare coming from the yellowblood. He does not say anything but he looks like he was only holding his tongue. Though Signless quickly answers before any of companions could comment on it. "They do. Is there a reason why slaves are not trolls too?" Terezi wants to groan. All of these thoughts and questions are too deep. She doesn't care. Why should she? This is not her problem. "I guess not."

The olive blood speaks up as she leans close by to the Signless. "Have you meet a slave before, kitten?" Terezi quickly remembers all of the slaves on board Mindfang's ship. She remembers all the times they were mistreated. Terezi remembers the abuse and the slaughter she saw happen to them. The way some of them cried and bled always bothered her, but Terezi thought it was just normal. After all, that was what she was used to. "Yeah, I have. A ton. The captain on my ship had a lot." 

"How were they treated?" Signless throws the question in and Terezi is starting to why they cared so much about other trolls. All Terezi knows is that Mindfang wants Terezi to obey her and fall under Vriska. The empire seems to be obsessed with it's caste system for some reason. Now these trolls are acting like they were against all of that. It is all confusing to her. This world makes no sense at all but Terezi wonders if it would if she had her ancestor around to guide her. "Pretty shitty. I felt kind of bad for them...I got in trouble one time for helping one. She doesn’t say she’s a slaver but I’ve met some. They tried to sell me but the captain found me. They gave me a scar and it took forever to get fucking healed. It sucked. I don't know how some trolls deal with that." Terezi frowns slightly from at the memories. They noticed the look until the yellowblood speaks up. "You find ways to survive. If not, those bastards kill you for not taking orders. They do all suck. Fuck every one of them." Even though his tone is flat, Terezi can still hear the anger in his voice. She can only stare at the yellowblood.

She does not know what to say for a second and wonders by how he talks if he knows by experience. Terezi can only assume since she does not ask him about it, but the look is enough to let everyone in the room that Terezi is puzzled by the comment. She does comment eventually though. Having a room of silence is terrifying in Terezi’s opinion. There is no way she will allow to continue in her presence. Despite the seriousness of the talk, Terezi forces a snarky grin to her face and shrugs her shoulders. “Hehe. Yeah. I guess so.” She is almost dreading for another second of silence. Luckily for her it does not happen. The Signless opens his mouth ready to talk and right away Terezi can feel a lift in the air.

"I'm sorry if this is coming out of nowhere...but I have been in need of asking you a question. You look so familiar. Have we ever met before? Perhaps you have gone to one of my sermons before…?" Right away Terezi shakes her head. She is sure she would remember a group like this before. "I've never seen you." He gives a hum and looks to the other trolls in the block for some backup. The jadeblood clears her throat and Terezi feels like she is going to integrated all over again. "Do you have a last name?"

"Uh, Pyrope." The moment that the name came out of her mouth, she knew something was not right. It was not wrong but it was definitely not right. Terezi can tell that she said something that threw them off. There is a slight raised of an eyebrow from the jadeblood. Almost like it was a look someone would give to a lying wriggler. Though the Disciple seems to have a curious expression. A look to where does believe her but is just simply confuse. Terezi does not know what this all means. Maybe that is why she takes a glance at the Psiioniic and Signless. The yellowblood is almost smirking. It is almost a joke to him and all the different reactions are confusing her very much so. Then just having the Signless glancing at his companions did not help answer any of the questions going through her mind. This all happens so fast. So much so that before she could blink an eye, the yellowblood speaks up right away. 

"Ok that name sounds familiar, right? That law troll had it too….I think. Not going to fucking lie. The wriggler looks like her too." He looks to the others for confirmation. There is split second of silence from the other trolls until the oliveblood speaks up. "She does! Good. I thought I was the only one." There is relief in her voice. The same kind that someone does to where thought they were going to be wrong turn turned out to be right.

"Are you guys talking about that troll called Redglare?" Terezi finally questions. She had her doubts that they were all talking about the same troll but the moment they nod their heads, Terezi knew that they knew Redglare. 

Dolorosa speaks up before anyone else could. Which was amazingly fast because everyone looked ready to put their opinion on the situation. "Yes. You must be her descendant then. Forgive us if it took us too long to recognize you. I know for a fact that I personally had my doubts. We did hear rumors of her passing and did not know if she had a descendant or not." The Signless looks remorseful out of everyone else and Terezi did notice. It makes her wonder why he cares so much for other trolls when he knows that most trolls act so hostile. “Yeah. I never met her. Mindfang says I was a wriggler when she found me.” 

"Mindfang?" The yellowblood asks. 

"That's the captain. I never liked her but I don't wanna talk about her." Terezi states and can already feel some of her own anger rising at the thought of her. "What do you know about Redglare? I bet she was cool." She quickly changes the subject back to one she would much rather prefer talking about. Any chance she gets to talk about her ancestor is one that she is more than willing to take. She never got to chance to meet her. Though this might be her only chance to at least get a better idea of who she was. “Hehe. She was something else.” Psiioniic comments and before Terezi could ask Disciple gives him a look before speaking up. “He means that she….”

“She was a good troll. Redglare always meant well...even if she did do things her own way.” Signless comments.

“So….how did you guys meet her?” Terezi asks and is glad to finally get to learn more about Redglare. Dolorosa answers Terezi though. “She was apparently sent out to spy on us. However she was not very subtle. She even honestly introduced herself by her rank. A legislacerator. It was not my first time to where I had the...privilege to meet one. Redglare was different. I would dare call her a show off."

"Yeah. She fucking flew in on a dragon and acted like cool shit." Psiioniic laughs and Terezi is already impressed with story. Redglare does sound like an amazing troll already. 

“She did it on purrpose.”

Signless laughs at the memory. “Of course she did. Redglare liked to make grand entrances. She had high hopes that everyone would know her one night.” 

It makes Terezi excited. The news about her ancestor was definitely a sad one but nothing new to her. Though this is her chance to finally get to have real stories of Redglare. The mysterious troll that was her ancestor. “Haha! Really? That’s so cool. what else happened? You can’t just stop the story there.” Terezi hopes and stands there in anticipation.

“Once she landed, I remember the crowd started to disperse. Redglare did not seem to care however. She was more interested in having a conversation with us instead. She shoves anyone that was in her way and to be honest I am surprise how well things worked out. If it weren’t for my son’s composure, I honestly would not know what would have happened. Though he greeted her and she just introduced herself.” Psiioniic cuts in for a second to add his own comment in the story. “Yeah, she acted like we should have known her.”

“Regardless,” Dolorosa states, “Redglare may not have had ill intentions and if she did then they did not show. We talked to her for some time before she just decided to leave.”

Terezi tilts her head in confusion. “She just leave…?”

Disciple responds with a, “She sure did. She came fast. She left fast.”

“We weren’t kidding when we said she was fucking weird. No offense.” Psiioniic corrects himself and it did not even take a looks from his friend’s to do that. Though Terezi is more interested in what happened. “Did you ever see her again?” 

Signless answers the questions. “Well we did run into her several occasions. I even had a few talks with her. She really is good. We later found out that she wished to the change the system from the inside. I can respected that. Redglare never caused too much trouble with us but she always did things her own way. Redglare even warned us twice when the Empress was going to send trolls after. If it weren't for her would have never known."

"She was like a hero then! Damn I always knew my ancestor was amazing. So what legislacerators do?" Terezi asks, now more curious as to why Redglare picked that career choice. 

"Hmm. They are the primarily used for hunting down criminals. They should be investigators but they prefer to use a sword, or a gun, instead of looking into matters. If they capture a troll they would escort the troll to a court block. The trials normally end in death as the legislacerator does the hanging. It is a fast process. If a legislacterators is after you then the odds are that they were sent out to have you culled." Even though the job sounded questionable, Terezi could only smile a bit. Her ancestor sounds amazing. Not a lot of trolls could ever do something like that. Yet, Signless seems more concerned about defending Redglare. "Redglare meant well even if she threaten us the first time we met. I'm not sure what changed her mind over time. Maybe I helped her understand our standpoint. Even if her job was not the most noble work. I believe she had good in her and there was."

"Wow. This is awesome. I once met these trolls in a village that knew her too. It was kinda far from here. Lots of forest and there was a dragon! Hmm...I don’t remember the stupid name of the place.” Terezi states in wonders if they knew anything about the village too. Maybe then she could connect the pieces together.

Psiioniic rolls his eyes.“That’s vague as fuck. Even with the dragon part.” 

“But dragons only stay in only certain furests.” Disciple injects and Signless shrugs, not knowing much about the topic. Though this oliveblood seems confident enough to know what she was talking about. “Trust me. They are only in the thick furests.” Terezi nods her head and is just overall glad that someone knows what she was talking about. Maybe she is also excited that she finally got to talk about Redglare. “Yeah and the dragon I saw was huge! I wish I could ride on a dragon like Redglare.” Terezi gives out a hopeful sigh and can only think about Redglare. She wonders how tall she was. Maybe Redglare would be the kind that would make all criminals scared. Terezi is sure that Redglare would be the kind that would come into any situation confident. She can only imagine.

The details do eventually start to come in. The group could tell that Redglare was all Terezi wanted to talk about. They were nice enough to keep the conversation on the deceased troll. They talked and talked for hours. Terezi asks far too many questions even for the group to know. After all, they only have interacted with Redglare less than ten times. Still, Terezi is eager to learn anything and everything she can about her ancestor. They keep chatting about Redglare until they had nothing else to say. Terezi seems satisfied though and soon came the time for her to leave. The group does eventually tell Terezi that she is not forced to stay and that she could leave whenever she wants. After she gathers her things together, Terezi is ready to set out on her journey once more. 

"Thanks for not killing me." Terezi states jokingly as she got ready to leave. "Take care, Terezi. Try to stay out of trouble." Signless said but knows that nothing was going to stop this girl. "No promises! I got some things I need to take care of now." She doesn't keep a straight face but there is some truth as to what she says. Terezi is enlighten by this experience, or at least she will say she was, but she did learn a bit. She knows a little bit more of what she needs to do but at the same time she feels confuse. It feels like everyone knows more than her. Every single troll has something to say. 

"Just be careful then." Signless said and Terezi wanted to laugh. It was weird having a troll care so much. It was opposite of the world she knew. However, it was very nice. Though she turns to leave the block and then remembers something. Terezi does a 180 and turns to Signless and holds out her hand. "You know I'm still going to need that letter, right?" Terezi asks and the Signless nods his head. "Of course. I'm sorry that. Some trolls get a little paranoid over what messages are being sent throughout the empire. However, the one you had was just a simple order. I apologize for pulling you into this situation." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the letter. It clearly was open careful and was reseal well. Terezi sure that it was opened and maybe tampered with. All she can do now is hope nobody will notice any changes made to it. "Great. I hope I don't get in trouble for this." Terezi states flatly even though she is not too concern. "Once again. I am sorry. I hope your delivers go well." 

"Yeah. Same!" Terezi replies as she make sure everything is in order. She has everything she needs and with a nod they lead her to the door. Once there, the front door is opened for her and Terezi is allowed to leave. It's surprising to her still that they are letting her just walk out. If Terezi wanted to she could inform someone of this location. It would not take long for this place to be raided. The moment Terezi says that there are rebels there then only ashes will be remaining after a few hours. She won't say a word though. By the time Terezi tells the nearest authority, the building would have been cleared out or she would hope so.

That is why she decides to not bother and say anything. Anyways, these trolls knew Redglare. There is something about just that alone that makes Terezi not want to say anything. After all, if Redglare liked them enough to not give their position away when she was still alive, then it would feel absolutely wrong if she did. Instead, Terezi just keeps walking away from the building and back on the road in hopes to get this delivery done. 

She walks for what feels like several hours and is left nothing else to do but to just continue walking. Terezi would prefer to still been in the company of other trolls. All of this being alone is actually no fun to her. It is hard to make friends when she is always traveling around. Though this was the job she just picked to get away from the sea. It worked well. However, maybe it worked a bit too well. Now she is always alone and is kind of missing Vriska already. Sure, they would clash and argue. They would even punch each other painfully when one would annoy the other after a while. That was how they were though. Vriska might have Mindfang's blood but she still likes being around her. There was nothing she could do about that now though. She just needs to forget about her. Terezi should focus on other things. Maybe she could find a decent spot to build a hive. Studying the laws always seemed kind of interesting for her. Sure she does not understand a lot of it but it was all interesting to her in some degree. Maybe it was really the legislacerator part of it that is starting to catch her attention. She wants to know more about it and maybe could go to a book shop to do some research more on the subject. She questions a lot of this as she continues to try and find the hive she was looking for. With some helpful signs Terezi does eventually find herself walking up a well constructed road to a large hive.

"Darkleer...? What does that even mean?" Terezi reads the addressed troll's name on the letter. She does not think much of it. He just sounds like just another blueblood loyalist. The guy has to be the one whom is getting orders from the empire. Terezi does not know if it directly from the Empress or if they are just using her seal for official business. It is still impressive. This may not be the first time Terezi has delivered empire business and she will more than likely get more in the future. Though Terezi was not doing this for the love of the empire or anything like that. She agreed to this job just because of the pay. Of course she has to watch out for trolls trying to scam or hurt her. There are also a good amount that have simply tried to mug her on sight. Maybe it is the fact that she was not as big as other trolls her age. Maybe being right in the middle of the caste makes lowbloods think she has money and highblood think that she also has money that they are entitled to take it. 

Either way, Terezi was already tired of the constant mistreatment and it will take just one more thing to make her stab the next troll that tries to mess with her. She will not care who they are. Regardless, there was nothing she could do about it. Terezi sighs and walks up the stone path to the large hive. It is bigger than what she normally is used to seeing and she honestly likes it. It almost has a creepy atmosphere even though there are lights placed well throughout the hive. Even though Terezi can never see herself living in something like that, it is still a welcoming change from the cheap wooden inns she found herself staying in. 

Once she does get up to the door, she knocks on it loudly in hopes someone would hear throughout the large hive. There is silence for a few seconds before she tries again. “Come on. Somebody answer already….” She makes a groan and is so close to hitting her head on the door just to let some frustration out. Right before she does that, she hears a noise. Footsteps. Very heavy footsteps can be heard and Terezi could have sworn she felt her ear twitch from the noise. She just wanted to deliver this letter after all and not have to deal with whatever was coming to the door.


	19. I Will Find Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi is nosy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp. here you go. super late. so sorry!

The front door opens smoothly and slowly. Terezi really does not know what to expect but still stands ready for anything. There had been plenty of times where Terezi had bad run ins with trolls that were not happy with news she would deliver. It is not like the messages were her fault. She was just the messenger. Then there were just trolls with bad attitude that wanted to fight over nothing. Terezi can not win at times and just hope that this will not be one of them. Yet, seeing the towering blueblood makes Terezi turn cold. She hides we'll though. She holds the letter out to him. "This is for Darkleer." He gives her a blank look at first and gently takes it from her. He opens it up right then and there. It makes Terezi worry. She does not know how tampered with it is. He reads and reads and then turns to Terezi. Right then and there she feels like she is in trouble. He must know. There is no way he does not know that it was opened. She is ready to run though. Her mind is already making an escape plan. 

"Oh. Yes! Thank you," he takes a quick glance at Terezi, "tealblood. I have been waiting for this letter for a while." Terezi relaxed when she heard him talk. His voice is calm and deep. It reminds her almost of a gentle large beast. She would rather deal with this than a violent highblood. It's good that she has avoided a lot of contact with them. “Yeah. So do I get a tip or something?” Terezi asks casually and hold her hand out for as much as she could get off of him. He gives her an awkward smile and looks inside is his. “Come in. I need to get it, unless you want to stand out here.” Terezi hesitates but does nod her head. This might have been a stupid idea but she does not feel like waiting outside forever. She enters and right away can is impressed with the hive. The decor is interesting to say the least. There are a lot of odd trinkets sitting around. Most are just random pieces of technology laying about. It is nothing really fancy. If anything Terezi thinks all the decor is very dorky. However, he takes her into another room. A large block filled with many books and the dim lighting. The block looks pointless. Only a few chairs are scattered on the tacky blue carpet. 

“Why do you have so many books?” Terezi walks to

"Trolls of higher status are expected to keep these around. They also have an aesthetic appeal to them." 

Terezi gives him a questionable look. She is not sure if she heard him right. Actually she knew exactly what she said, She just did not think this buff troll would be very interested in only keeping books just for the looks and not to actually read them. It sadly is believable to hear highbloods doing this. Some trolls can not read and he is just collecting books to make the room look pretty. "So you keep them for decoration?" There is a proud smile on his face. "Exactly." She wouldn't think he would admit to it but at least he is honest. "Wow." She rolls her eyes and takes a few more steps deeper into the warm room. 

Darkleer does not seem to notice Terezi's reaction and continues to marvel over his own belongings. "It is impressive, correct?" That was something Terezi will admit to. "It's kinda cool. I've never seen this many books before." Terezi is sure this guy will put bookstores to shame with the fine collection he has. The walls are filled with nothing but books and the open spaces on the walls do hold...unique paintings. Terezi almost can not look away from them. Paintings of horse penis’ on the walls is one thing Terezi does not want to be looking at. Why were they so big too? They don’t need to be that big. She could not believe that someone would actually have this up in their hive and is not ashamed of showing them off. Terezi is both disturbed and humored by the photos on the wall but it was only funny the first few seconds. After that it was just plain weird and Terezi wishes that the government would do its job for once and actually censor something like this. Though Terezi does her best not to look at the hanging pictures. 

"Thank you. Would you like to have some tea or milk?" He does not even seem to notice are care about her reaction to the paintings on the wall. Maybe coming into a strange troll’s hive was not such a smart idea. If she had an ancestor, Terezi is sure that Redglare would have told her that this was what she gets for going inside a stranger’s hive. A full view of graphic art. Though Terezi is not sure if should even be called that. It is just a picture of a horse with an unnecessarily large bulge. Terezi can feel her blood rushing to her face in second hand embarrassment. She is so distracted by it that it takes a cough from Darkleer to snap her out of her thoughts. Yet, Terezi is still blushing like mad as if she is some wiggler that just walked in on two trolls pailing. 

"Oh, I walk a lot so I don't think milk is a good idea." Terezi states and tries to ignore the painting now. Yet, she could still see it in from her peripheral vision. It is weird and Terezi wonders why he has it hanging on his walls. Actually...now that she has looked around more, she can see more paintings similar. All with a common theme unfortunately. 

"Nonsense! You need strong bones if you are carrying your weight for a long time." He waves her off and Darkleer almost looks offended that someone did not want milk. Terezi does not plan on caving in though and insisted on having tea. "I can just have that tea offer?" He looks disappointed but does nod his head. "Whoof course. You can wait here while I acquire your drink." Terezi is ready to agree quickly but her ears ring because of one of the words. Whoof? There is no way she heard that right. She is left to stand there in confusion. This might have been the first time she heard someone use a horse pun. She could have sworn he just used a horse pun in his sentence. Talk about embarrassing. 

"Was....that a horse pun?" Terezi squints her eyes at him but is completely amazed that a blueblooded troll would even use such language. It is sad but there is something about it that is funny to Terezi. “Yes! It was.” There is a toothy grin from this guy and Terezi sure thinks he is weird. He is probably one of the weirdest troll’s she has ever met. He isn’t bad though. She knows that he means well but is just a tad bit awkward about it. “Ok…. So with all of these books you must know something about legislacerators.” Terezi looks up at all of the books labeled in many categories. He gives a gentle nod and continues to stroll down the library. Terezi follows very slowly to give herself some time to look at all of the books he has. "It is an excellent career. It is even an honorable rank for someone of your blood color."

"Really? Cause...you know...I'm kind of interested in it. My ancestor used to be one." Terezi feels one of the spine’s of a book. More specifically, she picks a legislacerator book by random. The black spine catches her attention and it feels right touching her fingertips. Terezi pulls it off the shelf and dust goes everywhere from the action. She gives a quick sneeze that is quickly followed by a shake from her head. 

"Well I do have some books on the process on how to become one. The trials will be hard but will be well worth it if you happen to pass." Darkleer pauses once he sees Terezi pulling a book off one of his selves. He does not stop her though or even looks like he minds. He can tell there is a spark of interest in Terezi. The way she holds the book tightly in her hands tells him that she does not want to give this book up. Then her eyes kept looking intensely at the pages. He is sure that Terezi does not understand much of what the book would be telling her. However, he is still impressed that Terezi is very much interested in the subject. Yet, even the words Terezi says tells him a lot about how interested she is. "Wow. Where do I sign up?" Terezi keeps looking over the book but a light chuckle from him breaks her concentration. She looks up to see him grinning. 

"I'm afraid you are too young to do training but your dedication is great!” He tries to make her feel better, but Terezi already knew that. She already knows that she is too young to be doing formal training. 

“Can I take a look at the books..? I mean more closely.” She tries to ask nicely in hopes he would let her. Luckily for her, Darkleer does not mind as he just smiles. “Of course, you may. I will grab your drink while you look that over.” Terezi nods her head as he turns around and continues to walk out of the room. He goes further down his personal library while Terezi looks around for a place to sit. She walks around the library. Terezi finds a spot hidden away from the crazy images hanging on the walls. A comfy seat makes her happy and the book in her hands bring her hope. She does not know why it does. It just makes her feel more complete and connected to Redglare. Terezi wants to keep it but knows better than to ask for him to give it to her. 

The book tells her a lot. Maybe too much. Some of the boring details blur together. A lot of it is just boring descriptions of responsibilities and obligations. There are a few points that keep Terezi going. The topic of the academy is filled with little details and that only Terezi more curious as to what really goes on at the ace deny. It makes they don't describe it though. A lot of secret training happens at the academy. Terezi could only imagine. Her thoughts are cut off by footsteps stomping of the carpeted floor. Terezi looks up to see the tall troll coming back. A tea is sitting on a tray in his hands. “Thanks!” Terezi reaches for it and snatches the glass. It quickly warms her hands and it escalates to a burning sensation. Terezi hisses and puts it down before she drops it everywhere. Though her hands still pulse from the heat. “Shit that's hot. I think I will wait before burning my mouth.”

“Yes, it is very hot. It was just made after all.” Darkleer places the tray on a nearby side table. There is almost a smile on his face from her reaction but he still gives her a pointless scolding. “Language. Higher bloods could take offense to it.” The warning only makes Terezi roll her eyes. She doesn't care about what other trolls think. “Yeah. Sure. Anyways, this book says Legislacerators are in charge of capturing criminals...but do executions. So which is it? Can they even do both?” Terezi makes a confused face at the book. “They do both and much more.” 

“Shit. Sounds like a lot but pretty exciting! Hehe! I could only imagine. Going on wild chases and making them hang for causing so much trouble for not only other trolls...but for myself as well! What I would give to be one...” 

“It is a dangerous job. Mostly trolls do not live for over a five sweeps after choosing that career choice. However, those that do well end up living very well off. The Empire tends to reward those that are loyal to it. Listen Terezi. Once we find our place in the system, we should do our best at it. We all benefit and grow stronger because we all do our parts. It all comes together. However….” Terezi gives him a curious look at his pause. She could see a thoughtful expression on him. Whatever he was thinking of, he was not happy by it. “there are trolls out there that would do anything to change things. They want to change our very way of life. We become our own enemy and we slow down our own progress. Watch out from those trolls, tealblood. They will only bring nothing but grief with them.” His warning is sincere. There is a hint of bitterness in his voice. It is almost as if he is referencing something, but Terezi does not have a clue and she is not curious enough to ask. For once, Terezi just accepts it. 

She does not stay long after that. Terezi starts to feel like she is overstaying her welcome. It is not like she cares but things get awkward when the older troll wishes to talk about the art of horses. It is enough to make Terezi come up with an excuse to leave. After drinking some of the tea and leaving the book behind, Terezi wanders off again into the streets. There is no need to rush. The night up enough for Terezi to continue her exploration in the city. After talking about legislacerators, Terezi feels inspired. She wants to do so much more now and she also wants to learn more. She put some thought into it and came to the conclusion that the Empire must know something about Redglare. Her ancestor worked for them and so they must have some information about her. With a goal now on her mind, Terezi feels confident. She studies the local map to find the local justice center.

Since the city is big, the justice hall is more than impressive. The stairs leading up to the doors is almost intimidating. Terezi feels small but at the same time alive. “I need to get in there.” Terezi scans the building goes to the justice center. The large building is impressive. The stone that it is made from it is very fine. More than likely the stone is more expensive than need be. However, that makes it even more impressive. Still, Terezi can't say she really cares much about it. She does not care about the intricate design but what's in it. If there is information of Redglare in there then Terezi wants to know. She walks up the unnecessarily large steps to find guards standing at the entrance. They look her way but Terezi lies quickly about her making deliveries. She even pulls out letters to prove her point. Lying has come easy to her over the sweeps. One just gives her a quick nod. They look like they do not even care or see her as a threat. 

Terezi walks past everyone. The place packed and there is no way of knowing where to start looking. She ignores everyone and they do the same. Terezi sneaks with a troll pushing a cart through a door. The guards are too busy scanning the cart to notice Terezi sliding past them without any trouble. She feels like a troublemaker for doing so but she won’t let anything stop her now. She is so close to finding out more information about Redglare. Terezi feels her blood pusher pounding faster and her hands want to twitch in anticipation. Not many trolls could survive what she has. That only tells Terezi that she is destined for so much more. With that mentality, nothing could stop her. Terezi takes large and confident steps. For once in her life she feels true confidence. Maybe it is just temporary but it is enough to make Terezi look like she belongs there. She takes a moment to only look at the directory. Archives. That sounds like a good place to try. She engraves the block number in her think pan and quickly rushes off to find it. Terezi follows the signs in the hall, and after going down five halls and an elevator, she finds a large door with a sign hanging on top. Terezi grins at the sight. It must look interesting to see a small troll standing there with a smile on her face. All Terezi does is stare at it for a good few seconds. She loves knowing that her questions will finally be answered. Knowing that she is taking too long, Terezi finally reaches out to open the door. Her hands grab onto the doorknob tightly and turns it.

There is a tight click and knob does not move any further. The door itself stays shut. It is lock but there must be some way in. They must have some file on her ancestor and Terezi will not give up now. Though her joy is quickly replaced with frustration. Of course it is lock. Why would it be that easy to go through empire documents? Terezi frowns and glares at the door in hopes her look will open the door. “What are you doing here?” Being so caught up with the idea of finally getting some information blinded Terezi to what was going on around her. If she known any better she would have kept an eye out for other trolls. Terezi would have at least heard the footsteps if she paid even the slightest attention. Now there is a large troll standing before her and he does not look happy. 

“Just delivering stuff.” She lies quickly and is proud at how smooth she does it. Terezi hope it is enough for this troll to get off her back.Though he gives her a look that tells Terezi that he is not buying it. “To whom?” She bites her tongue and her mind draws up a blank. Terezi is already getting frustrated at the fact that she knows that she might not be able to get away with this. She tries to come up with a lie. Anything. Yet they catch the moment of hesitation. "You are trespassing and you need to leave now." The troll is trying to remain calm. Yet the annoyance in their voice tells Terezi that they are beyond furious with the fact she made it this far without getting caught. "But-!"

"Or I could call the culling drones..." The threat sounds real. The look in the troll’s eyes is enough to tell Terezi that this is something she can not win. The odds are against her and there is nothing she can do but admit defeat. This is still a good opportunity that can't be wasted. She will just have to try again. 

"No. It's fine. Ok. Ok. I'll leave." Terezi puts her hands up and starts to back up. This did not go the way she planned. There was nothing she could do now though. She was already caught and will not let her back in without proof she could be there. The troll even escorts Terezi out of building to make sure she did not try to sneak off and hide. Their eye is sharp and Terezi finds herself being drag outside of the building and back to where she started. She is push out the front door and the guards give a curious look as to why a young troll is being shoved out of the building. “This wiggler was trying to go into places she should not be in. Be sure she does not come back in.” His voice is so snobby to Terezi. It almost hurts her ears. She rolls her eyes at him as the guards give her a glare. One guard nods his head while the other responds. 

“I will tell the others not to let her in.” The guard turns to Terezi and tries to shush her off. “Well get going! You’re lucky we haven’t got you culled. Wigglers like you are easy to get rid of.” He stands tall and threatening to Terezi. It is almost intimidating actually. She takes a step back and that seems to satisfy the troll that caught. He walks back inside with a content look and Terezi turns to walk down the large stairs. A few trolls passing by saw the incident and whisper how lucky she is. Though luck was and never will be her thing. Terezi doesn’t care about that. She will have to simply find another way inside. Terezi rattles her brain for thoughts as she wanders around the outer perimeter of the building. Everything looks tightly locked down. Every door is shut and no window is unlocked. It's disappointing but Terezi knows that this was not going to be easy.


	20. Turning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revealing truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Way too short for even my liking and i am super sorry for that. However, I want to keep giving this out to you guys. So her you go! Things will really start picking up after this! Be ready for the tears and anger that are to come in future chapters.

Terezi knows that she needs to be careful. It takes her loitering around for over an hour to find her opportunity. She knows she can not rush in though. If she does it will only lead to failure and her possibly getting culled. She would like to avoid that very much. Her little blood pusher is beating fast but Terezi controls herself for once. She keeps pacing from the distance as she can not stay still. Trolls are in the back entrance smoking and taking in a few criminals through the back. She debates on causing trouble to get in there but knows it will be impossible escaping from her captures. It will be unneeded trouble for her. Terezi plays it smart. She makes her approach slow as to not startled the trolls smoking in the back. They do not see her and Terezi catches a huge break when a call on their radios ruins their break. Their cigarettes get thrown to the ground reluctantly as they march back inside. The door swings open and Terezi sees her chance. She sprints. The door closes slowly but Terezi feels her fingertips brushing against the mental handle as her arm is stretched to its limits. Her hand quickly wraps around the handle and Terezi forces the door not to close. Things go right for her and the door is left only a few centimeters open. She has a way in again. Terezi grins as her bloodpusher is starting to relax. With a relief sigh she opens it wide and enter back in the building. 

"Wait! Don't cull me. I just wanted the file of my ancestor." Terezi explains quickly and was sure for a moment that they were not going to care. They are going to cull her and that will be the end of that. Though they only glare at Terezi and question her. "Ancestor? Who is your ancestor then?" Just by the tone they do not believe her, but not killing her right away tells Terezi that she could get out of this. "Yeah! Her title was Redglare. She died but I think used to work here. I don't know about this actual building but she worked for the empire and I wanted to get more information on her." Terezi explains quickly.

"All trolls do service time with the Empire and then why the fuck didn’t you just pay for her damn file then?”

Terezi stays silent for a moment to comprehend what was just said. “What?”

The troll sighs loudly and Terezi knows that he is annoyed with her just by the look on his face. “With one damn gold piece you could look up basic information on a troll’s file. Of course, if it is true about her working for the empire then some things will clearly be censored. But are you wrigglers that fuck cheap to where you don’t want to pay one fucking gold coin. You are not a lowblood. I’m sure you can fucking pay.” Terezi feels her jaw drop slightly as she feel stupid now. She could pay for documents? Did a lot of trolls know that or is that just something highbloods keep to themselves? Though Terezi gets a good reminder about how out of touch she is with how the empire functions. “I didn’t even know I could do that!”

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. He looks so conceited. Terezi would do anything to wipe that look off his face. Maybe if she had a name to herself then other trolls would not be treating her like this. Was Redglare ever treated like this? Maybe she was well respected by many and feared by her enemies. “Uh, yeah. You can. You check in at the front, instead of sneaking around, and they will guide you to an archive. I tell you...do you wrigglers even know ever how to follow rules?”

“I said I didn’t knowwwwww.” 

“Well now you do. So get the fuck out of here.” He looks like he could barely keep himself together. Any second now, Terezi is sure the other troll will just lash out at her.

“Ugh. Yeah. Okay,okay.” Terezi backs up unwilling. She knows getting culled here would just be a major insult to herself and her ancestor. She wants to be persistent but Terezi can not take on a full grown troll. Not now. They are too big...and strong. There is no chance for her and Terezi hates that knowledge. She needs to get taller and strong. Maybe then she might have a fighting chance. Terezi feels a little more determined even though she retreats for now. “Fuck this. They make this so hard.”

After walking to the front, Terezi is forced to stand in a line. It’s long and boring. Some trolls complaining about pointless topics, one troll gets culled a few feet away from her, and two trolls get dragged to another room. By their cries, Terezi is sure that are going to be interrogated. Though she could care less. She just wants this line to move faster. At least it is never a boring night at Alternia. The trolls here tend to be highly sadistic and having a bored sadistic troll mostly leaves others dead. Maybe that is why Terezi is shock that there are not few deaths while she waits. She feels like she is part of an assembly line and she keeps slowly moving up until it is finally her turn to talk to the front desk. Terezi grins when it’s finally her turn.

“Yeah, I’m trying to get my ancestor’s record. Redglare.”

The desk worker tilts her head. “We would prefer a non-title name.”

“uhhh, her last name was Pyrope. She died a few sweeps ago. That’s all I know.”

“Let me see.” There is a sigh that quietly follows but the young troll does get up and starts typing quietly on her computer. A few hums soon follow and Terezi leans over the counter trying to see too. 

“Lucky for you, I was able to find some paperwork on her. Here’s a copy of the originals. Just sign this paper.” A paper slides in front of Terezi as the other trolls gets up to get the paper together. Terezi does not have a clue what she signs but she does not care. It will allow her to get Redglare’s paperwork. That is all she needs right now and Terezi feels her blood pumping in excitement as a small folder is given to her.

 

“And that’s it.”

“Cool.” Her reaction is maybe too quick. Terezi grabs the folder in eagerness and mumbles a, “ Let’s see...”

Terezi finds a bench outside to sit down on. She is actually nervous about what the file would show her. Yet, there was something exciting about it all at the same time. This will be another great opportunity to get to know some hard facts about Redglare. Her hands want to shake in excitement but she keeps them under control. She exhales as she opens up the file. The first thing she finds is a picture. It is a small photo but it already means so much to her. It looks like the photo was taken maybe after the academy judging by the fact that she was wearing a uniform in it. Her hair was neatly cut and the red shades...a pair of red glasses hung on her nose. Terezi recognizes those quickly. Her mind rushes back to the night of her wiggler day. Those were the same glasses Mindfang gave her. So, how did she get ahold of them? Regardless, Terezi is still happy to have a clear image of what Redglare looked like. It is a photo she plans to keep. She moves the picture out of the way to start reading her basic profile. Her height and weight was listed. Then her full wriggler name was posted on there too. Just this basic information gets Terezi happier by the second. 

The next thing that was listed was her career. It was good to know that at least nobody lied about Redglare being a legislacerator. She was apparently the only one that lived and yet only earned the rank neophyte. Terezi rolls her eyes at that. She is sure that Redglare deserved a better rank than that. That is one thing she will probably only stand by. Still she keeps looking over her record. It was also stated that she is in fact dead and it is not like Terezi needs any more reminders of that. However, something catches her attention. There is a report in there. Sure, good amount of it is censored but it is still well detailed as it goes into how Redglare dies. It makes Terezi’s blood pusher pump faster as she starts reading it. Redglare was apparently sent on a mission. It is mostly censored of course. Even a dead troll such as Redglare still needs to do her job and ensure that no one gets nosey in the Empire’s business. 

It starts off simple. It states the time of departure but not her destination. Terezi keeps glancing through it and is ready it close the file up. There is not too much in it since so much of it was censored from the start. That is until something catches her eyes. A name on the paper that gives Terezi chills before making her blood push speed up. 

Mindfang. 

Her name is written all over the document.   
Terezi thinks she might be hallucinating at first. Maybe her personal bitterness towards the woman is making her go nuts. Terezi blankly stares in horror before reading the over and over again. Yet the ink does not fade. Mindfang’s name is still there. Which only makes the next part sick to comprehend. 

Mindfang killed Redglare. 

A pirate murdered her very own ancestor. The same troll that should be raising her is dead because of her. A pirate caused all of this. The thought makes her sick. Her stomach is in tight knots. There is something completely disturbing about it all. A single thought keeps going through her pan. Mindfang has been taking care of her this entire time. All her life, Terezi never thought much of it. The worst part is that she’s known the entire time. She killed her Redglare and took her. Who even does something the cruel. She was even trying to condition Terezi to get used to being a lackey. To fall in line like everyone else in her crew. That just felt like salt on open wounds. First, she murders and then manipulates. Sadly, Terezi knows Mindfang is not above doing any of that. In fact, that sounds exactly like her. “Are you fucking….what?! Fuck!” There is something twisted about the whole situation and even though some of it is clear to Terezi now, most of still does not make sense. She still does not know the details as to why, how, or when. Though maybe she does not need it. Terezi can only grip the paper tightly in anger, but it is okay. At least now she can come up with a plan while she is away from Mindfang. But what can she do? She is too young….she is too weak. “Fuck this!” She shakes her head in disgust and clicks her tongue. “Fuck her…”

The playing field is far from even but Terezi knows she can be more than them. She has confidence that she can have a fighting chance. All she needs is a upper hand. If she could just get some kind of advantage then she will be able to get her revenge. There is no way around this. If Mindfang truly did kill Redglare then it will only be right for Terezi to confront Mindfang. She is not a fool though. Terezi needs to prepare, plan, and take her out. All she needs is some training...and maybe some luck.


	21. We Will Crawl Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi decided that joining the academy would be her best bet to defeat Mindfang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to make this chapter extra long for you guys for being so loyal to this fanfic. Thank you for sticking this far.

Knowing the truth of some things can be hard. Terezi was finding that out the hard way right now. She did not feel a lot of sympathy towards Mindfang and in fact wanted her dead. She would give anything to see the die by her own hand because paying someone to do it would not satisfy her one bit. This was why she carefully planned her revenge. After returning to an empty inn to rest for the day, Terezi plotted. There actually was no resting going on because she was too awake. There were far too many little moving gears on her mind as Terezi tried to come up with a way to erase Mindfang off the planet. She knew she needed resources and training. Both things she lacked in. It was discouraging at first because Terezi knew she lacked options. However, a simple thought quickly went through her mind. 

She didn't know if it was because it was extremely late in the day that made her believe that this was a good idea, but she decided that maybe becoming a legislacerator would be the key. Maybe she forgot that her ancestor, Redglare, lost her own life as a legislacerator. However, Terezi felt confident. She could do it. 

Terezi stayed up late continuing to do research on the processes to becoming a legislacerator. Needless to as, she was grossly under qualify. Her blood color was barely acceptable and she could still have been denied for just being a teal blood. Yet, Terezi knew she lacked much in the physical category. Even though she could hold her own pretty well, she would be going up against bigger and badder trolls. It was no longer going to be wiggler shit she would have to be dealing with. All her thoughts kept her up as she finally decided that there was no other way for her to do this. She craved for the justice. Terezi wanted Mindfang’s blood now. 

It wasn't until the next night, that Terezi goes to find the recruitment center. Actually, it wasn't hard to find at all. There was ads nearly every in the city that encouraged trolls to serve their empire. Though, Terezi wasn't very fond of the government, didn't care at all actually, but she was going to use the system to bring out the justice she deserved. The recruitment center was nice actually. Terezi walked up to the door and opened as a tiny bell rang. “Yes?” An older troll at a desk looked up to Terezi. 

“I'm here to sign up.” Terezi stayed quickly before adding, “You know a legislacerator.” The older troll, Kuruhalf according to his name tag, gave a distasteful look. “Wiggler...go the fuck back to your hive. I don't have time for your games. The Alternian law enforcement has a very...specific taste and you just...well you are far from it honestly.”

“I am what you are looking for.” Terezi said as she stood close by the desk. She did her best to stand tall even though she knew she wasn't fooling anyone. “If you are what we are looking for then we have truly lowered our standards.” His words don't hurt her but only made her grin. “So am I in then?”

“Do you have an recommendations?” 

“No.”

“Okay. How about knowing anyone who's served?” 

“My ancestor was a legislacerator.” Terezi felt like now she had some chance now. Kuruhalf was curious by the answer. “Really?”

“Yeah. Redglare. Ever heard of her?” He rolled his eyes however. “Oh yes. I have. Troublemakers sure runs in the blood I see. So does that damn attitude.” He gave a sigh and leaned back in his seat. “Well knowing her was not an excellent reference….Do you have a criminal history?”

“No.” Terezi didn't know if she lied or not. She surely did live with criminals, but then again Terezi never really considered herself a pirate much. He doesn’t need to know that.

“I would ask if you could do the required physical minimum but I seriously highly doubt.” He mumbles to himself has he did not seem at all interested in Terezi. “Listen...why don’t you come back in a couple of sweeps. How old are you?”

“Like 7.”

“You do look young…Listen I appreciate your...dedication to this but you are too young. You are as good as dead if you try to join now, wriggler.”

“I can do this! Fuck, just let me sign up.” Not even being accepted might have just been the worse insult. Terezi was not going to take it though. She just could not. All the noise must have attracted attention because a troll from one of the other blocks walked in. His uniform is decorated far better than the troll she was talking to now. “What is going on here?” His voice is deep and yet calm. He looked down to Terezi but yet before she could answer, the other troll, Kuruhalf answers. “Just a wiggle trying to sign up for the legislacerator academy. I was already turning her away.”

“If she wants to serve then let her.” Terezi grinned and Kuruhalf gave a concern look that should have been a warning to her.

“Sir, we normally don't allow wrigglers to even apply. She won't survive half of the training.” 

“Yes I will!” Terezi butted in as she knew that she had a slight hope to get in now.

“I like her spunk though. We normally don't get young ones this brave...that or stupid.” Terezi rolled her eyes at the comment. “However, I'm sure we could put the age thing aside. Give her the paperwork.” Kuruhalf gave a simple yes sir. He opened up a drawer and pulled out a stack of handed it to Terezi. “Just fill out what you can. Now I’m going to go over some mandatory information.” Terezi was handed a pen and even though she did not read it, she had a feeling that she was pretty much selling her soul to the empire. “Chances are that you might get mutilated, decapitated, and the high, very high, of death. Especially for you.” 

She would admit that this all was not very encouraging. “Not me. I got this shit.” Terezi was not sure if her real or not. It did not matter if it was fake or not because there is no backing out now. Her signatures were messy signature and it might be from nervousness. However, a part of her was just thrilled. Progress was happening and Terezi needed this chance. She handed the paperwork back to Kuruhalf and the other troll nodded in approval. “Welcome to the academy.” His words don’t seem honest and he simply turned around to return to his block. Kuruhalf just snickered and took the paper back.

A part of Terezi wondered if trolls were just as rude to Redglare when she signed up to go through the training. If so, then she will too just have to prove them wrong. She has too. This is the only way try and get an advantage against Mindfang. Terezi hated to admit the fact, but there is no way that without training she would be able to stand up against Mindfang. “Great. Be sure to report to this address tomorrow. Be on time. It starts at dusk.” He handed her a small piece of paper with an address only written on it. “You are dismissed.” 

Terezi shoved the paper in her pocket before giving a simple “Ok.” 

“I would recommend learning to say ‘yes, sir’ or else you really will not survive.” Terezi does not respond as she walked out of the building. She could not help but to feel accomplished however. This was really happening. They are letting her try and go through the training to become a legislacerator. Terezi felt nervous and excited all at once that she was sure she would get sick from all of the emotions. It took her hours to arrive back to the inn she was staying at. It was not because it very far but because Terezi did not see the point in rushing. She made a few stops along the way and even grabbed a bit to eat. The temperature was dropping now a days since and it was the cool temperature, Terezi found herself enjoying the nature a bit more. Sure, she was in the inner city but over the last sweep, Terezi has taken a liking to the outdoors. She especially loved the part where she was not on water. No more getting sea sick for her. 

She did not want to think too much about her time living with Mindfang. Sure, she missed Vriska. Terezi grew up with the girl after all. Everything felt right being around Vriska even though that girl caused so much pusher-ache, Terezi knew that Vriska meant well. She also does want to primarily blame Mindfang for how Vriska always behaved. That woman fed the young troll’s ego and now Vriska was just as obnoxious the last time Terezi checked. Terezi pondered over these thoughts as she finally decided to return to the inn to sleep. She can’t however. It was another restless day and Terezi kept tossing and turning in her coon before she finally decided to crawl out annoyed by the lack of sleep she was getting. Against her better judgment, Terezi stayed up. She decided to color a bit to relax her nerves. She fantasized being well known in the empire and passing judgment to low life criminals such as Mindfang. Terezi would prove that teal blood could hold up their own and that just because Redglare lost the battle, that it did not mean Terezi could not prove them all wrong. Knowing Mindfang, she would not be surprise if Mindfang did not fight fair. She could imagine low blow tricks.The woman had no honor. Terezi knew that Mindfang would do anything to get her way. Terezi pondered over a couple of hours before finally knocking out.

Now, Terezi did not believe in luck. However, she was sure she was lucky to be making it on time to the academy. Staying up late did have some negative effects. Now, she was rushing to ensure that she would not be late. The last thing she needed was to get a bad reputation early on. Luckily, the place was not far. It was within the city and had a lot of land reserved just to train trolls. One could not even get a good look at the property as there was apparently a lot of classified training and information occurred there. Trees covered the place with towers and high fences surrounding it. It honestly made Terezi uneasy. The placed looked more like a prison than anything else and Terezi was slowly starting to understand what she got herself into. She quickly made her way into the building and was quickly scanned for weapons and recording devices. Terezi did not have anything on her as she really did not know what to bring with her. Other trolls were there. So many more. The lobby area was packed with more than 200 trolls trying to get in program. Yet, maybe the scary part of this all was the fact of how many legislacerators there really were out there. 

Terezi does not know the exact number, but she does know there was only a couple of hundred...on the entire planet. That might have sounded plenty but if these training academies occur as often as they do then, that means very few actually make it. Then if a lot do make it does that mean that legislacerators must be dropping dead very often. Their job tend to involved high risks missions and were also solo. Meaning if they get badly hurt, they were seriously out of luck. The thoughts made her sick but she knew that she just needed to be confident. She had a goal. If she would just keep pushing forward then things should work out in her favor. 

“Everybody! Get in a single line! Hurray! Do not be slow! And always do what we say! Disobedience will be beaten out of you!” A troll shouted as he walked into the block. Trolls scrambled around Terezi and a few even bumped into her. She could tell she was definitely the smallest one there. However, she figured it just might actually help her get through this. Terezi found a spot to stand. “We are going to assigning out uniforms! You will wear it and you will like it! Is that understood?” 

“Yes sir!” Everyone almost chanted. Terezi waited in line as everyone started getting their uniforms. It was actually going fast. Uniforms were just being thrown at them and soon it was Terezi’s turn to get to the front of the line before they glance at her. They pause a second. “Do we even have a uniform small enough for this one?” One troll questioned.

Another one shrugged her shoulders and handed one that was printed extra small. “This is your uniform. Wear it right and try not to mess it up. It's your only one! Now hurry up and change! We don't have all night!” She could not even look at the uniform before she was being yelled at again and shoved to the side. The uniform was a grey button up with the empire seal on it and the pants were the same matching grey with only a black strip on the sides. Terezi was unimpressed but quickly put it on. She held onto her her clothes as she was quickly shoved to another block. By now, the tiredness was already setting in. It did not help that it was early in the night. She tried to stay awake as she was given instructions to wait in one of the seats with some many other trolls as they wait for everyone to get their uniform. The chair was hard and the place was loud. Yet, the tiredness was tempting and Terezi did not see any harm in closing her eyes for only just a few seconds. 

Terezi felt at peace during that time. The rest was well needed but she was startled awake by feeling herself being thrown to the ground. “Fuck!” Her face hit the ground and she groaned at the contact with the floor. “You're already failing, tealblood! Get up! How long have you been asleep?!” A troll yelled at he. She did not know them but taking a quick look at their uniform Terezi knew that they had to be one of the instructors. Their voice was far too loud to her liking and Terezi felt spit landing on her from the close contact. Yet, her vision is trying to clear up from the hit to the ground and from the blinding light. 

“Shit, I don't know. It was only a couple of minutes.” She mumbled as she pushed herself off the floor. Terezi did not know what to say but knew that it might have not been the best answer. 

“Then I guess you will be spending a couple of minutes in the pit.” Terezi raised an eyebrow, not fully understanding what that is. Though she can guess it's not good by the smirk on his face and the awkward silence that is just dangling in the air. It was then that she realized that other trolls were awkwardly trying to see without getting attention on them. Which some failed at since other instructors went up to them and started yelling at them as well. “Uhhh...” She's almost lost for words. Yet, she was grabbed roughly by the her sleeve. Her shirt crumbled in his hands and then she was dragged. Terezi doesn't know what to say. She doesn't even know how to react. A part of her wanted to resist but it's hard to do so when up against a large and possibility dangerous troll. However, she's remembered the constant words. “Disobedience will be beaten out of you.” Terezi already heard the rumors. Trolls dying in training from “accidents” or just straight up brutality executed for minor things. She did not want to believe that any of that was true. Yet, Terezi was fearful that it just might be.

She kept getting pulled out of the block and soon is taken outside. Terezi was wide awake now but it's mostly from adrenaline and fear kicking in. It's a painful silence as she tried to keep up with the forceful pull because Terezi was sure that he will keep dragging her even if she went dead weight on the ground. It's not long after walking through the grass field that she is taken to a giant, dug up hole in ground. It reminds her quickly of a well. Actually, now that she thinks about it, it looks deep and is wide like the average well size she has seen. In honest, it does not look really that impressive or intimidating at all. It's just a simple deep hole in the ground. “Is...this it?” Terezi does not try to sound like she did not care but she now was more confused. “Not impressed? Maybe you should have a closer-fucking look then!” He lifted her up over the hole and now she is wish for once he would not let go. “Oh shit!” However, Terezi squirmed out of survival instincts. Her mind telling her that this was far from good. She only dangled for a few seconds before he let go of her. Terezi gave out a quick yell as she fell down into the hole. It only takes a less than two seconds for her to reach the bottom of the hole...or the pit as it was called. Water was at the very bottom and it splashed everywhere from the speed she fell at. The first thing she noticed was how wet the ground was. It’s muddy and cold. If she wanted to call it water. It smelled horrible like as if something was rotting and she would honestly not be surprise. The water was not deep but it was just enough to go up to her knees. Terezi looked up before some more dirt came falling down. She shields her eyes from it but some still managed to get in and irritate her eyes. “Shit…” 

“Why don’t you stay down there for a couple of minutes and then we will talk!” The troll on top yelled down to her before walking away. Terezi gave an annoyed huff. It was cool down there as the water did not help. It was not too bad but just uncomfortable. The murky water and tight space was not where she would like to be. Maybe this would not be so bad if Terezi could actually move around. The area was far too tight for her to really move around much and the hole was too deep to climb out. The walls would surely crumble if she tried. At least that was what she thought. She figured a couple of minutes could not be so bad. Terezi tired to make herself comfortable. She stood, leaning against the curve of the wall but it only made her uniform muddy too. Sitting down would not be a good idea. It will only cause her to get more of her clothes wet and it was bad enough that her feet were deep in the water along with part of her pants. 

However, it was not too bad….well at least not for a couple of minutes but she was there for more than a couple of minutes. Terezi knew that a couple of hours have passed and there was still no sign of another troll. By then her mood was sour from the freezing in the water and being covered in mud. Her legs were also getting too sore from all the standing and the only reason she could stand it was the fact she was used to walking a lot. The smell was making her nauseated as it was over powering. It reminded her too much of being around crowded low bloods. It was why she tried to keep her movement to minimum just so the smell could not be worse.

“Fuck...this sucks.” She complained to only herself as there was nothing else to do then think to herself. Terezi contemplated on trying to climb out but there was no good grip on the wet walls and doing that would only tire her even more. Anyways, she was too busy shaking from the cold water by then. 

It was not until the sun started coming up was when she realized she was there all night. Terezi figured any moment someone would pull her out before the sun started coming up. Yet, no one did. The sun slowly started rising more and more over the hours and Terezi hugged the wall as best she could. She tried angling herself to keep the sun from hitting her. However, the sun does eventually started covering up the entire pit area. Terezi grinded her teeth as the sun soon started burning her skin. She knew was going to regret this but there was not many options to deal with this. She could keep burning or she could try sinking into the dirty water to shield herself from the sun. Terezi does her best to withstand the heat but it soon became a little too much before she decided that sinking further in the water would be slightly better. She sat down with her arms hugging her legs while avoiding the sun as best she could. Even though she was hungry, tired, and feeling overall like trash, but quitting was not an option. She just started and she knew how terrible it would be of her to try to drop out now. She stuck it out and soon fell asleep leaning against the dirt wall as the water stayed around half way up her shirt. It wasn't long before she fell asleep again. 

It was night time again by the time she woke up. She was still stuck down there and no sign of any troll around. It was then that a panic thought came to mind. They were going to leave her down there. They were not going to let her out. These troll were going to leave her to burn or starve. Terezi felt even more sick and she needed out. At this point, Terezi did not give a care of her miserable feeling. Terezi tried to find the driest part of the wall. Once she did, she looked up to see if she really could try and climb out. She was in very deep. It was discouraging and Terezi knew that dying in a hole would be a terrible way to go down. 

However, Terezi had some faith. She was a pretty good climber on Mindfang’s ship.  
That was one thing she was glad of. Climbing on the ropes was always a way for her to try and get away from Vriska’s rough play or Mindfang’s punishments. She remembered the winds blowing hard as she gripped tightly to the ropes as the ship would rock back and forth. It was sometimes terrifying but after a while Terezi remembered the rush she got from it. “I got this shit...” She found a rough grip on the wall and Terezi reached for it. Her right hand held on tightly to the spot as she tried pulling her weight out of the water. 

She got herself a few inches off the ground before that part of the wall crumbled. The dirt hit her face again and Terezi goes falling back to the bottom even though she made almost no progress. “Fuck.” Yet, even then she did not top. Terezi looked for another spot to start climbing. She kept searching and searching as she found a different spot to try to climb out. Terezi failed several times and even scrapped her arms from constant falling down. Yet, she just could not give up. There was no other option. Then she started going further up. She finally started going up without too much problem and Terezi grinned. She was tired and lightheaded. Her arms shook from weakness, but the adrenaline that was kicking in was the only thing pushing her forward. Terezi was half way up before she felt confident. She laughed because she was finally out of the water. Her clothes were heavy but Terezi can not stop now. Terezi kept going higher and her nails were tightly clinging to the dirt wall. Then, there was the moment where she finally reached the edge. Her fingertips reached the solid ground and Terezi could only laugh even louder when she finally pulled herself out of the hole. “HAHAAHa! Yes!”

She threw herself to the ground and rolled away from the hole. “Oh shit. I love the land. Fuck oceans and fuck holes.” Terezi exhaled as she lay there for a few moments before pushing herself off the ground. No one was outside and the building was not far. It was maybe half a mile away. With a sigh Terezi stood up and tried wringing the water out of her clothes. She made her way back to the building and found the same exit she was originally dragged out of. The same troll that threw her down there stood in the hallway that connected. He was standing over another trainee. They had a bloody nose and was pressed against the wall. He stopped harassing the other troll to see Terezi walk in. “Well what do we have here? I see you managed to get out.”

Terezi did not say anything for once. He glared at her before pointing down the hall. “Great timing too. The recruits were just about to eat. I would recommend you get going.” The instructor gave her an arrogant grin. Terezi stood there for second before walking pass the instructor. She heard a low growl from him before she felt herself being shoved against the wall. “You will respond when you are being addressed! Is that understood?!”

Terezi does not have the energy to fight right now. She was drained already and just wanted to eat. “Yeah.” 

Her answer was not good enough because she found herself being shoved again against the wall. “It is ‘yes, sir!’ I will fucking beat that in your tiny pan if I have too! Got it?” Terezi did her best to not show her annoyance and played along. “Yes, sir.” 

“Good. Now get out of here.” Terezi felt herself being let go. “I got this troll to take care of.” Terezi does not even give the other trainee another look as she walked though. She did not even get chills when she heard him scream and Terezi did not even looked back to see. Terezi followed the signs within the building and finally found the block that would have the food. At least she assumed since other trolls were going inside. The block was large and colorless. The line was long and Terezi was near the end by the time she step in. She tapped the older male troll in front of her. 

“What are we having?” Anything pretty much sound good at the moment since she had not eaten for some time. Though some meat sounded great to her right now. She had her sharp teeth for a reason and eating grubloaf all the time was making her sick and tired. The troll spoke nicely to her to her surprise. “I don’t know but whatever it is, I hope it’s decent.”

A female troll behind her spoke up. “We maybe training for the empire but I doubt it will be any good.”

Soon more trolls started conversing. “Yeah I hear they hardly feed yah and whenever you do eat, it’s not good. My morail is a legislacerator and he said that the food sucked. Like was just a weird brick of mushed up food.”

Terezi made a disgusted face. “Ewww. I’m hungry but I don’t think I would want to eat that.”  
“What are you complaining about? You were down in that fucking hole all night. We were going through all those obstacles. I think they are just going easy on you since you’re a wriggler. They shouldn’t give you special treatment though.” A troll with a bread complained and was agreed with some trolls around. Yet, Terezi was ready to defend herself.

“I thought I was here to be trained. I didn’t asked to be thrown in a fucking hole.”

“You kind of did. You disobeyed orders. You’re lucky that was all that happen to you.” The same troll in front of her commented.

Another troll interjected as the line kept moving. “Don't let it get to your thinkpan. They are just trying to make sure you got the stuff.”

Terezi raised her eyebrow. “The stuff…?”

“Yeah. You know, wriggler. The kind that doesn't give up. They like that but only if it is complete dedication to the empire. If you're too spirited then they are gonna knock it right out of your pan.”

“I'd like to see them try…” Terezi shook her head in resistance. 

One troll’s replied was too quick.“You probably just might.”

She doesn't say more. Terezi just arrived to the the front of the line to get her food. If she wanted to call it that. Turned out it was was nasty. The little flavor it had made it beyond disgusting. Though after not eating for a night and a half she didn't have much choice.They called it nutraloaf….and it looked like shit. It kind of tasted like it too. There was a nasty mixer of some meat and a lot of veggies. No seasoning and it was so soft it was falling apart on her tray. Terezi kept poking at it when she sat down, and reluctantly took a bite. It tasted worse than it looked! This should not be possible but it was. It was weirdly soggy and some parts were crunchy. Why was it crunchy?! Even though her stomach was hungry, this food was probably going to kill her organs. “BLAH! What the fuck is this trash?” She complained and she could tell that others were doing their best to try and eat it too. One guy ate it like nothing and a few were refusing to even try it. 

“I think you should just eat it and stop complaining.” One troll commented with annoyance. 

She made a face but does not complain anymore. Some trolls were starting to give her looks and she knew that it was best just to try and eat.

After eating there was still much to do. Even though every single troll looked like they were ready to fall asleep any second, everyone was still standing at attention outside. No one talked as they wait stiffly for them to be addressed. She stood on her spot in the formation. The fifth row and third column. At least she would not get any attention since Terezi was out of sight. Especially now since her uniform was messy. If there was one thing she knew, it was that getting attention was bad here. Stay hidden from the eyes of the instructors was an important thing to do. However, Terezi knew she was already failing there because she already got in trouble. 

Soon one of the other instructors stood in front of everyone. A tall, fit troll. His hair was neatly combed back and his uniform was a nice solid black with few colors on it other than awards he has earned. His horns were curved back and Terezi knew that he must have been important out of all the others. “Everybody listen! All of you are going to go through a real obstacle course now. There is a good chance you will die. My prediction is that half of you won’t make it! So if you want to drop out….! I recommend you do so now.” There was silence for a moment before a hand shoot up. It was then followed by five other trolls wanting to drop out. “Step forward then.” They pull themselves out of the crowd and Terezi saw that they are all young and still have a fresh face among them. They lined up in front of the instructor. 

Terezi could not understand what happened after that. There was that continuous moment of silence and all she heard was a clicking noise and then fire a from a handgun. The single shot was loud and made her ears ring as she, and many other trolls, crouch down in fear of catching a bullet. Some trolls scream and Terezi could only cover her ears as she tried to figured out who fired the shot. Terezi glanced up pass all the trolls standing in front of her. A troll was laying on the floor, bleeding. One of the blue bloods that wanted to leave was now dead and soon more shoots went off as the other quitters were looking down the same barrel of the gun. 

Everyone was confused and shock as other trolls started realizing that their once fellow students were now dead. “Everybody stay in formation!” Another instructor yelled. The same one that fired looked back at the crowd and Terezi swore for a split second she made eye contact with him. It wasn't kept long as he addressed everyone again. “There is no quitting here! You either come out as a legislacerator or you fucking die! Any more quitters?!” 

No one even moved and the instructor nodded his head. “Good. The real trials haven't even started yet.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my fanfiction! I do hope you leave at least a kudo or a few words. Maybe both. Tell me what you think because every little support is very encouraging and motivating. The more motivation, the faster I will update.


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